


9 























"WHAT RIGHT HAD YOU TO STOW AWAY ON AN HONEST VESSEL EH? 



Two Stowaways 

Aboard the Ellen Maria. 


BY 

JAMES OTIS 



New York 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 
PUBLISHERS 



LIBHARY of CONGRESS 
IwuCuDies Heceivetf 

AUG 14 laoa 

CXw\. 

CLASS O- AAc. w.,. 
T__ I S \ 3 O 
COPY B. 

I — 


Copyright, 1907, by 
J. O. KALEE 


Copyright, 1908, by 
THOMAS Y. CKOWELL & CO. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER page 

I. The Cause of It ..... . i 

II. The Decision 12 

III. Stowing Away 21 

IV. Under Way 33 

V. Captain Ben 45 

VI. The Culprits 56 

VII. The Forepeak 68 

VIII. The Telegram 79 

IX. Sea Legs 91 

X. Dressing-Gown 102 

XI. Day Work 114 

XII. A Mishap 126 

XIII. The News Item ....... 138 

XIV. Mr. Salter’s Secret 150 

XV. In the Fog 160 

XVI. An Idle Hour 170 

XVII. Fooling Captain Eph 180 

XVIII, Signs of Trouble 190 

XIX. Abraham Disabled 200 

XX. Amateur Cooks 210 

XXL Winning the Race 221 









ILLUSTRATIONS 


$ 

What right had you to stow away on an 

HONEST VESSEL, EH?” (6o) . . Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Ain’t got yer sea-legs on yet, eh ? ” . . . 94 v/ 

Ahoy! Ahoy there!” 168 \/ 

This ’ere schooner will be on fire if you 
don’t bear a hand!” 202 






Two Stowaways Aboard the 
Ellen Maria 

CHAPTER I 
The Cause of It 

Any fellow not fully acquainted with all the 
facts in the case would have believed that Tommy 
Harriman and Sam Chesley had every reason to 
consider themselves very fortunate boys, more par- 
ticularly on a certain day last summer when they 
stood in the shade just outside the Lafayette Hotel 
in the city of Portland, State of Maine. 

Oh, my ! but the weather had been hot ! When 
Tommy and Sam left their homes on North Broad 
Street, a few days previous, on the way to the sta- 
tion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, it surely seemed 
as if they would melt and spill themselves all over 
the sidewalk, so great was the heat; but they did 
not complain, owing to the fact that they were just 
beginning a journey to Bar Harbor, where it was 
only reasonable to suppose they would be as cool 
and comfortable as if having apartments in a 
refrigerator. 

Tommy was ten years old on that very day, 
while Sam was less than a year younger, and it 


2 TWO STOWAWAYS 

seemed to them that having lived so long in the 
world, they were fully competent to travel alone 
on any ordinary journey, yet their parents ap- 
peared to think it necessary to have a certain care 
over them, all of which was, to put it mildly, very 
discouraging, because it caused the lads to look 
like children. 

Sam had proposed that he and Tommy set off a 
day in advance in order to secure comfortable 
quarters at Portland, where the journey was to be 
broken by a halt of one week, and again at Bar 
Harbor, where a much longer time was to be 
spent, but, singular as it may seem, their parents 
positively refused to consider the kindly proposi- 
tion. However, because there were so many in 
each family that the carriages were rather too well 
filled for comfort, it had been agreed that Tommy 
and Sam might walk to the station unattended ; but 
there was an unpleasant suspicion in the minds of 
both that such poor privilege would not have been 
accorded unless it had worked to the pleasure of 
the older members of the two families. 

Of course all this has nothing to do with the 
story, nor is it necessary to say that the lads were 
cousins, because it is our business to find out as 
quickly as maybe, how it happened that two fel- 
lows from Philadelphia “ stowed away ” in the 
hold of the fishing schooner, Ellen Maria, 


THE CAUSE OF IT 3 

Owing to the fact that the journey to Portland 
was made by rail, and without any lengthy stop 
on* the way, Tommy and Sam saw very little to 
interest them either in New York or Boston, 
and Portland was by no means up to their standard 
of a city. Why, they could walk from one end 
of the business portion to the other in less than 
half an hour, without hurrying, and the park, 
which was called the “ Oaks,” could have been 
dropped in the very smallest corner of Fairmount 
Park without running over the edges a little bit. 
Of course there was the ocean to be seen, and yet 
it wasn’t really the ocean after all, for they soon 
came to learn that Portland is situated on Casco 
Bay, a good ten miles from what you might truly 
call the sea. 

Now with all these disappointments, after hav- 
ing made up their minds that they were to visit 
a very strange country, it is not to be wondered at 
that Tommy and Sam felt as if they had been in 
some way defrauded, although they could not for 
the lives of them have explained in what way it 
had been done. All this might have been borne 
without much murmuring, however, but for the 
fact that even in such a very small, toy city the''^ 
were not allowed to do exactly as they pleased. 

At a time when they had absolutely nothing else 
to do, and it seemed really necessary that they 


4 TWO STOWAWAYS 

pay a visit to the seaside resort of Old Orchard, 
only a dozen miles away, Mr. Harriman positively 
refused to permit It. He quite sternly told them 
that unless they could find something within the 
limits of the city to amuse them, he should recom- 
mend to their mothers that they be forced to re- 
main In their sleeping rooms until the following 
morning. 

What could two fellows do after having come 
away from home In search of a good time, and 
failed to find it? Neither Tommy nor Sam knew 
exactly what would be the proper course under such 
disagreeable and disappointing conditions, and, 
while trying to decide upon some plan which would 
serve to teach Mr. Harriman that he was playing 
the part of a tyrant toward his own and his sis- 
ter’s son, they walked aimlessly down the street, 
hardly conscious of the fact that they had turned 
In a different direction than on any other tour of 
exploration. 

The result was that they were very agreeably 
surprised at suddenly finding themselves on a pier, 
at either side of which were vessels discharging or 
taking in cargo, while the odor of fish was so 
strong as to be quite unpleasant. 

Involuntarily the lads had come to a halt near a 
small schooner whose deck was littered with casks, 
boxes, nets, and, what seemed most strange, six 


THE CAUSE OF IT 5 

dories piled one on top of the other in a regular 
nest. Now the idea of carrying boats on deck in- 
stead of hanging them from davits, or towing 
them in the water, so puzzled Tommy and Sam 
that for a moment they forgot entirely that they 
had been unkindly, almost brutally, treated by 
Tommy’s father. 

On the deck of the schooner and leaning against 
the mainmast, as if too feeble to stand upright, 
was a small boy, who gazed at Tommy and Sam 
as if they were the oddest kind of animals in a 
zoological collection, and winked in a comically 
friendly way when their attention was attracted 
toward him. 

“Do you belong to that vessel?” Tommy 
asked curiously as he ventured on the stringpiece 
of the pier. 

“ Wa’al, the Ellen Maria belongs to father, an’ 
I reckon I go in with the rest of the dunnage 
somehow,” the lad replied with a drawl that gave 
one the impression his tongue must be very weary. 

“ Is this the Ellen Maria? ” Sam asked, rather 
for the purpose of beginning a conversation than 
in order to gain information, for he could see the 
name painted on each of the nested dories. 

“ Seems though you might guess it was some- 
thin’ of the kind, when it’s flashed up everywhere. 
Father has an idee that them letters must show on 


6 TWO STOWAWAYS 

everythin’ aboard, else he’ll have bad luck. The 
queer part of it is that he don’t paint me in the 
same way, so’s folks would know I belonged to 
the schooner in case I went adrift.” 

“Do you live here?” Tommy asked, as he 
seated himself on the edge of the pier, allowing 
his feet to hang over in what he believed was a 
sailorly fashion. 

“ Not much, I don’t. I wouldn’t be found dead 
in this city, for all it’s so big. We come from 
Bluehill way; down where you get a chance to 
breathe without bein’ called on to ask a perliceman 
whether he’s got any objection. Say, do you fel- 
lers hang out here? ” 

“We come from Philadelphia,” Sam replied in 
a tone of pride, and the boy on the deck of the 
Ellen Maria gazed at them in astonishment, only 
able to speak after a severe effort, when he 
exclaimed : — 

“ Philadelphyl Wa’al Pll be blowed! How’d 
you get so far from home? ” 

“ We’re going to Bar Harbor to spend the sum- 
mer,” and Sam seated himself by the side of his 
cousin. 

“Oh, you are, eh? Wa’al, all I can say is 
that I don’t have any great ’pinion of yer judg- 
ment if you’re willin’ to stay all summer in a 
place like that ! ” 


THE CAUSE OF IT 7 

“ Ain’t it nice there? ” Tommy asked anxiously, 
wishing that his father were near to hear an ex- 
pert opinion before making the mistake of visiting 
the place. 

“ Nice nothin’ I It used to be a good harbor 
for fishermen, so father says, where you could run 
in to dress-down after gettin’ a deck-load of fish, 
an’ in the old days you’d find anywhere from ten 
to fifty vessels at anchor. Things used to hum 
then, you bet; but now it’s nothin’ ’cept a lot of 
dudes skippin’ ’round with women that, as mother 
says, go way ahead of Solomon in all his glory, 
whatever kind of a rig that may be. 

Tommy was on the point of explaining that 
Philadelphia was a good deal of a city as compared 
with Portland ; but, not thinking it wise to provoke 
a controversy with a lad who had evidently seen 
so little of the world, he checked himself, asking 
instead : 

“ Why do you have those boats piled up on 
deck, when they belong in the water? ” 

“ Say, a nice time we’d have of it cornin’ inter 
a harbor sich as this with a lot of dories trailin’ 
on behind like the tail to a kite! They belong 
right where they are, till the fish strike in, an’ 
then they’ll go over the rail mighty quick, I can 
tell you. Seems like you ain’t very well posted 
on Bankers.” 


8 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ We ought to be,” Sam cried quickly. “That’s 
what my father is.” 

“Your father a Banker! I never saw any 
craft from Philadelphia on the Banks I ” 

“ What do you mean by seeing vessels on the 
banks?” Tommy asked in perplexity. 

“ Where else would you see ’em if they were 
after fish? Father thinks the only place where 
he can get any decent kind of a fare is on George’s 
Banks; but when I have a schooner of my own 
I’ll work off Sable Island, or Quero, that’s what 
I’ll do.” 

It was not a simple task to explain to the boy 
on the Ellen Maria what kind of a “ banker ” 
Sam’s father was; but Tommy finally succeeded 
after a certain fashion, and in order to put an 
end to other awkward questions, he asked: 

“ What is your name? ” 

“Who, me? Oh, I’m Joe Babbidge, an’ my 
father’s Cap’n Ben — you must have heard of him, 
’cause it’s allowed he’s the smartest banker sailin’ 
from- .the Maine coast. Why don’t you come 
aboard, instead of settin’ up there like turkies on 
a shed? If so be you’re any ways hungry. I’ll 
fry some fish, though it ain’t too fresh, seein’s 
how we caught the last two days ago, an’ if 
there’s anythin’ I’m dead set against, it is stale 
fish.” 


THE CAUSE OF IT 9 

Tommy and Sam were not hungry, but they very 
readily accepted the invitation to go on board, and, 
except for the unpleasant odor, were pleased with 
all they saw. The cabin of the Ellen Maria was 
not what might be called a cleanly place, but to the 
lads from Philadelphia it looked particularly snug, 
and they had an idea that it would be delightfully 
cosy on a stormy night. 

“ I wish we could go to Bar Harbor In a ves- 
sel like this ! ” Sam said enviously. “ It would 
be great fun to see what the fishing banks look 
like I” 

“ Oh, it would, eh? ” and suddenly Master Bab- 
bidge was convulsed with mirth. “ Be you sich a 
softy as to think you can see the banks? Why, 
they’re nothin’ but shoal places in the sea, where 
the fishin’ is good. You couldn’t see anythin’ but 
water if you was to sail ’round all the banks on 
the coast.” 

“ I’d like to try it for a little while, but if father 
wouldn’t let us go to Old Orchard, it isn’t reason- 
able to suppose he’d be willing for us to go fish- 
ing,” Tommy replied with a sigh, and Joe Bab- 
bidge said with a laugh: 

“ I reckon my father wouldn’t be very keen at 
takin’ you, ’cause I had to coax him a long time 
before he’d agree to my shippin’ with him, an’ if 
I hadn’t stowed away jest when I did, I’d be 


lo TWO STOWAWAYS 

workin’ on a farm for Enoch Grant this very 

minute.” 

“ Did you really stow away on board a vessel 
and go to sea? ” Sam asked as if believing such a 
method of becoming a fisherman was something 
very enticing* 

“ That’s what I did,” Joe replied emphatically, 
“ an’ if you want to try the same game. I’ll do all 
I can for yer. The Ellen Maria is due to' leave 
port in the mornin’ ; father’ll be ashore for quite a 
spell before we start, an’ if you was here jest after 
breakfast, I could show you the snuggest kind of 
a chance.” 

“ We couldn’t run away, because our parents 
would be frightened almost to death when they 
missed us,” Tommy said hesitatingly, and Joe 
added in a tone of indifference : 

“ I ain’t coaxin’ yer to do it; but if so be you 
had the idee of goin’ I’d lend a hand. You could 
write to your folks sayin’ you’d started for the 
Banks in the Ellen Maria, an’ would turn up at 
Bar Harbor before they got ready to go home. 
Bluehill ain’t so far from the Harbor but that I 
could set you across in a dory after we’d made 
port. I reckon if you should put a letter in the 
post office when you was cornin’ down from 
wherever you’re stoppin’, your folks would get it 


II 


THE CAUSE OF IT 
before they’d had a chance to be very much scared, 
an’ if they knew you’d gone off with Cap’n Ben 
Babbidge, everythin’ would be all right, for he’s 
the smartest Banker on the coast, as anybody can 
tell yer.” 


CHAPTER II 
The Decision 

But for the last portion of Master Babbidge’s 
remarks neither Tommy nor Sam would have ven- 
tured to entertain the proposition of stowing away 
on the Ellen Maria for a single moment. 

They were not the kind of lads who would plan 
on running away, even under such severe provoca- 
tion as that given by Mr. Harriman when he re- 
fused his permission for them to make the ex- 
cursion to Old Orchard alone; but really, the 
scheme as presented by Joe was not at all accord- 
ing to their ideas of “ running away.” 

Any fellow would be eager to seize an oppor- 
tunity of seeing the “ bankers ” at work, for it was 
such an odd name as applied to this particular 
calling that it really seemed as if Joe’s father must 
be some rarity in the way of a fisherman. Then 
again, or so it seemed according to the suggestions 
of Master Babbidge, putting to sea in the Ellen 
Maria would be no more than a very pleasant and 
very brief excursion. When the vessel returned 
to this port — and Tommy felt certain that Cap- 
tain Ben would not remain away from home many 
12 


THE DECISION 13 

days — Bluehill was near Bar Harbor, so near, in 
fact, that, as Joe had stated, they could go across 
in a dory. 

In addition to all these inducements for playing 
the part of stowaways was the fact that their 
parents would know exactly where they were and 
without loss of time. Consequently, if Captain 
Ben was the renowned fisherman such as his son 
described him, no anxiety would be felt concerning 
them. 

It was the simplest kind of a simple matter, and 
as the two lads weighed in their minds the argu- 
ments advanced by Master Babbidge, it really 
seemed as if they would be culpable in not taking 
advantage of this extremely favorably opportunity. 

“ I would like to go first rate,” Tommy said 
reflectively, as his eyes rested upon the nest of 
dories and he realized what a jolly time a fellow 
might have pulling here and there in one of the 
light craft. “ And it don’t seem as if our parents 
could worry very much about us if, as you say, 
they would get our letter at dinner-time.” 

“Worry? Of course they wouldn’t! ” Master 
Babbidge replied emphatically. “ What would 
there be to fuss about, if they knew you had gone 
with father? I don’t reckon there’s a man in this 
city but what knows all ’bout the Ellen Maria, an’ 
what kind of trips she’s made. Why, your folks 


14 TWO STOWAWAYS 

could walk right out onto the sidewalk, an’ ask 
the first feller they saw, if they wanted to know 
anythin’ more’n you told ’em in the letter.” 

“ But what about your father? ” Sam asked as 
if he had already decided upon his course of ac- 
tion, and only needed to arrange the minor details. 
“ You talk as if he might not like to have us 
aboard.” 

“ Wa’al, I ain’t allowin’ as he would be overly 
keen to take a couple of greenhorns like you; but 
s’posen you stowed away, an’ didn’t come out till 
we got well to sea? How could he help hisself ? ” 

“ He might make a heap of trouble for us.” 

“ Now look here, fellers, you don’t want to get 
it into your minds that my father is any sich man 
as that. What did he do when he found me on 
board? Why, he stormed ’round a minute or two 
an’ said he’d flog me till I couldn’t stand; but I 
knew that was all wind. I’m allowin’ he’s so mild 
he wouldn’t kill a flea, less he was jest naturally 
provoked to do it — an’ it would take a good deal 
of provokin’ too.” 

“Where would we hide /till the vessel went 
away? ” Tommy asked. 

“ I could show you more’n a dozen places where 
you’d have things jest as fat as you’re gettin’ now, 
an’ I don’t care what hotel you’re stoppin’ to. It 
seems as though the hold would be the snuggest 


THE DECISION 15 

place, an’ I’ll fix up a chance for you this after- 
noon, if you’ll say that you’ll be here in the 
.mornin’. Why, see! S’posen I pulled ’round 
three or four barrels of bait, so’s to make a reg’lar 
room next to the cabin bulkhead? Exceptin’ that 
it would be kind of dark, you’d live there snug as 
bugs, if you never came out till we got back to 
port, though of course you ain’t figgerin’ on stayin’ 
any sich time as that under cover.” 

“ How long would we have to stay? ” Tommy 
asked with a certain show of anxiety. 

“ Wa’al, I allow it won’t be more’n over one 
night. You see we’ll leave here before noon, an’ 
if there’s any kind of a wind we ought’er be well 
down towards Matinicus by then. It won’t be a 
flat calm, that’s sure, ’less the weather changes 
from what it is now, an’ I’m reckonin’ that by the 
mornin’ after we’d left you’d come on deck. I’d 
take off the hatches an’ whistle when it was time 
to show yourselves; it ain’t certain but I might 
kind’er get father pretty well worked up to the 
idea of seein’ you, so’s he wouldn’t let on very 
strong. But bless you, that part of it ain’t worth 
talkin’ ’bout. The important thing is for you to 
get away from your folks.” 

“ There wouldn’t be any trouble about that,” 
Sam replied reflectively. “ We’re allowed to go out 
for a walk any time, and no one would think It 


1 6 TWO STOWAWAYS 

strange if we left the hotel as soon as we had 

breakfast.” 

“ Then I don’t see but what the thing is set- 
tled,” and Master Babbidge began overhauling 
the dunnage bn deck as if he counted on making 
ready the hiding place without loss of time. 

Tommy and Sam looked at each other inquir- 
ingly for a moment, and then Master Harriman 
said, as if speaking to himself: 

“ If we’re going to write a letter telling just 
where we’ve gone, and when we’ll be at Bar Har- 
bor, it isn’t what you would really call running 
away.” 

“ No,” Sam replied, with just the faintest tremor 
in his voice. “It ain’t that exactly; but yet we 
know our parents wouldn’t let us go in case we 
asked them.” 

“ You ain’t so certain of that,” Master Bab- 
bidge interrupted. “ I’ll bet if you was to tell ’em 
that my father had agreed to let you go one trip 
fishin’, your folks would jest about jump at the 
chance.” 

“Why don’t we tell them then? ” Sam asked, 
and his newly made friend replied promptly: 

“Why don’t you? Why ’cause father didij’t 
say you could go, an’ I ain’t allowin’ he would if 
you put it right up to him bald-headed like, ’cause 
he don’t believe in havin’ youngsters ’round when 


THE DECISION 17 

there’s business goin’ on. You might coax till 
you was black in the face, an’ he’d say you 
shouldn’t step your foot aboard the Ellen Maria; 
but once he’d found you was stowed away, he’d 
be jest as mild as milk, except for rubbin’ it in 
pretty rough with his tongue. But there, talk 
don’t hurt a feller. The best way for you to do 
is to make up your minds that you’re goin’ to the 
Banks, an’ then stop chinnin’ over it. I shall fix 
a place fof you to hide in, an’ I’ll cut up mighty 
rough if you ain’t here ’cordin’ to agreement.” 

Having said this in the tone of one who makes 
a threat. Master Babbidge suddenly disappeared 
in the hold, which, as it seemed to his visitors, was 
an intimation that the interview must be brought 
to an end. 

Tommy and Sam, believing it was the only 
proper thing to do, clambered from the deck of 
the Ellen Maria to the pier, and from thence 
walked slowly and in silence up toward the La- 
fayette Hotel. 

Not until they were within a square of their 
destination did either speak, and then Sam asked 
in a half whisper, as if afraid that the strangers 
on the sidewalk might overhear and make public 
that which should be kept secret: 

“ What are we going to do about it? ” 

“ It seems to me as if that Babbidge boy had 


1 8 TWO STOWAWAYS 

settled it, and we’d be forced to go. We’d have 

the jolliest kind of a time, there’s no mistake about 

that.” 

“ But what would happen when we got home? ” 

“ If we should stay away quite a spell, say as 
much as a week, I don’t believe our fathers would 
make such a terrible row, because they would be so 
glad to see us.” 

“ A week is a pretty long time.” 

“If we have to stay seven whole days, if is-; 
but it must take one of these fishin’ vessels quite 
a while to catch a full load. Just think of all the 
things we’d see, and what a jolly cruise it would 
be to tell about after we got home ! ” 

With this the conversation came to an end, each 
lad feeling convinced, since he was eager it should 
be so, that it was no Iqnger possible for them hon- 
orably to avoid stowing away on board the Ellen 
Maria, because of the fact that Master Babbidge 
was making, or would make, all the arrangements 
for their reception. 

More than once before the day had come to an 
end did Mrs. Chesley or Mrs. Harriman give 
words to the surprise occasioned by the unusual at- 
tentions which their sons bestowed upon them. 

With the knowledge in their minds, although 
not willing to admit it even to each other, that they 
were about to do a very mean thing, and one 


THE DECISION 19 

which would occasion sorrow, even after it was 
known that they were under the care of so ex- 
perienced a shipmaster as Captain Babbidge, the 
lads felt a greater and more tender love for their 
mothers than ever before, striving earnestly to 
show their affection, as if by so doing forgiveness 
might be gained in advance. 

During the remainder of the evening Tommy 
and Sam found a mournful pleasure in the com- 
pany of those whom they were planning to sin 
against, and not until they had retired, for both 
occupied the same apartment, was the subject again 
broached. Then, as if the question of stowing 
away had already been settled, leaving only the 
details to be considered, Sam suggested : 

“ I suppose we will have to take something to 
eat with us, if we’re to stay hidden aboard the 
schooner all night.” 

“ We ought to have asked Joe about that. Per- 
haps he counts on providing us with food.” 

“ It won’t do any harm if we buy some fruit 
on our way down to the pier. Say, do you s’pose 
our mothers will feel very badly? ” 

“ What’s the sense of asking such questions as 
that? ” Tommy cried petulantly. “ I wouldn’t go 
if I thought mother would be terribly worried. 
But how can she fuss very much when we’ll be 
with such a man as Captain Ben Babbidge? ” 


20 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Slumber overtook them before the grief at 
parting with their parents became so heavy as to 
cause repentance, and when they awakened it was 
time to carry out their portion of the plan. 

Had either Mrs. Chesley or Mrs. Harriman 
been suspicious that the lads were hatching mis- 
chief, the secret would have been revealed by the 
actions of the intended stowaways. They spoke 
only in subdued tones ; were extremely affectionate 
toward all the other members of their respective 
families; ate breakfast hurriedly and as if the 
food choked them; and, the meal over, hastened 
out of the hotel as if not daring to loiter lest 
their hearts should fail them. 

“ I’m beginning to be mighty sorry that we ever 
started this thing,” Sam said as they walked hur- 
riedly down Congress Street, looking behind them 
furtively now and then, as if fearing pursuit. 
“ It’s a mean trick to run away, even if we don’t 
count on staying more than a week.” 

“ Well, it’s too late now, because we’ve got 
started, and Joe Babbidge is waiting for us,” 
Tommy said with a sigh, and, as he afterwards 
confessed, he wished most earnestly just then that 
Sam would suggest their returning, even at the 
risk of displeasing the son of the redoubtable 
fisherman. Captain Ben. 


CHAPTER III 
Stowing Away 

Not until they had walked a considerable dis- 
tance did either Tommy or Sam remember that 
they had promised themselves to write a letter of 
explanation regarding the proposed cruise, and 
then it was Master Chesley who exclaimed in a 
tone of dismay: 

“ Crickeyl What about telling our parents that 
we count on stowing away on board the Ellen 
Maria? 

Tommy looked at his cousin reproachfully, as 
if believing Sam was the only one who could right- 
fully be blamed in the matter, and then cried in 
a tone of conviction: 

“ Well, that does settle it! Of course we can’t 
go without telling them what’s up ! ” 

“ Of course not,” Sam replied promptly as he 
came to a sudden halt. “ What chumps we were 
not to think of it last night when we had plenty 
of chances. I got to imagining how badly mother 
would feel if we stayed away too long, and the 
letter never came into my head! Well, she won’t 

know how near we came to making a voyage to 
21 


2 2 TWO STOWAWAYS 

the Banks, and I sha’n’t be in any hurry to tell 

her.” 

Then Master Chesley wheeled about quickly, 
as if feeling a decided sense of relief in turning 
his face toward the hotel once more, and would 
have hurried off to make certain his mother was 
in the same good health as when he left her, if 
Tommy had not asked hesitatingly: 

“ How much of a row do you suppose Captain 
Ben’s boy will kick up when he finds we’re not 
coming? ” 

“ He couldn’t expect we’d go without letting 
our people understand all about it.” 

“ But he won’t know that we forgot to write 
the letter, and will think we really intended to tell 
him a lie about it,” Tommy said solemnly. 

Just for an instant Sam was in deep mental dis- 
tress, and then his face cleared suddenly as he re- 
plied: 

“ We’ll go down and explain how it happened, 
and after that has been done we can get back to 
the hotel before our people begin to wonder where 
we are.” 

This surely seemed a very simple way out of 
what had at first appeared like a difficult matter, 
and the two walked at their best gait in the direc- 
tion of the Ellen Maria and Master Joseph Bab- 
bidge. 


STOWING AWAY 23 

Not until they were come within sight of the 
trim-looking little schooner did either feel any re- 
gret because the cruise was not to be made, and 
then it would indeed have been strange if they 
had not realized how great an opportunity they 
were about to miss. Very few fellows from Phila- 
delphia ever had a chance for such an adventure 
as Joe Babbidge had thrown in their way, and it 
began to seem really as if they were not only care- 
less, but culpable in having neglected such a sim- 
ple preparation in the matter of stowing away as 
that of writing one little letter. 

“ Got here, have yer? ” Master Babbidge said 
by way of greeting when Tommy and Sam came 
to a halt by the side of the Ellen Maria. “ Wa’al, 
all I can say is that you fellers must be mighty 
lucky, ’cause it ain’t more’n five minutes since 
father went uptown, an’ you couldn’t ask for a 
better show to make yourselves snug below with- 
out bein’ seen. Get a move on, for there’s no tell- 
ing how soon he may come back, an’ with sich a 
breeze as has sprung up he’ll be red-headed ’bout 
gettin’ under way in a hurry.” 

Master Babbidge motioned with one soiled 
hand toward the open hatch, and gave unmistak- 
able signs of impatience when, instead of making 
all haste to take advantage of the fortunate op- 
portunity, Tommy began to explain why it was he 


24 TWO STOWAWAYS 

and his cousin could not visit the Banks in the 

Ellen Maria, 

Joe Babbidge held his peace until Tommy had 
ceased stammering and stuttering over the expla- 
nations, and then he asked in a. tone, and with a 
look, of scorn : 

“ So that’s the way you count on workin’ it 
after I’ve jest the same as toiled like a slave get- 
tin’ things ready so’s you’d have the time of yer 
life, eh? I’ve pretty nigh wore my lingers down 
to the bone fixin’ a place where you could hide, 
an’ you didn’t so much as write one measley little 
letter!” 

“ But we really counted on stowing away just 
as had been agreed upon, Joe,” Sam said in an 
apologetic tone. “ We even started from the 
hotel allowing we were coming aboard, and it 
wasn’t until we’d walked a good part of the way 
that we remembered the letter.” 

“An’ then I reckon it was too late to do any- 
thin’, eh? You fellers are puffed up so bad that 
you can’t write anywhere except in a hotel, eh? 
Couldn’t took a piece of paper an’ a lead pencil 
an’ done the job right in the post office, eh? I 
never saw any fellers from Philadelphy before, 
an’ if they’re all like you I hope I sha’n’t run 
across any more ! ” 

Master Babbidge was truly terrible in his 


STOWING AWAY 25 

wrath; It almost seemed as if his eyes flashed, as 
do the eyes of people In stories, and Tommy did 
his humble best to soothe the angry boy. 

“ I never thought till just this minute that we 
might have written a letter in the post office,” he 
began contritely, and Joe Interrupted him by cry- 
ing passionately: 

“ An’ T s’pose you ain’t had time to think that 
you might go down In’ter the cabin of this ’ere 
schooner an’ write letters till you was bald- 
headed, eh? I guess you could find a way out of 
It, if you hadn’t counted on turnin’ me down so’s 
to show what sneaks fellers from Philadelphy can 
make of theirselves.” 

“ We’re not sneaks, and we hadn’t any Idea of 
turning you down I ” Sam cried Indignantly, and 
before he could say anything more Master Bab- 
bidge asked sharply: 

“ Then why don’t you go below an’ write the 
letter you’ve been makin’ so much talk ’bout? If 
you want’er play fair by me, after all I’ve done 
for you, what’s to hinder your fixin’ the thing be- 
fore father comes back?” 

“ I suppose we might do that,” Tommy replied 
hesitatingly. “ I never realized that we could 
write a letter In any other place as well as at the 
hotel.” 

“ Then get right on to your job,” and Master 


26 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Babbidge literally pulled his newly-made friends 
aboard the schooner, after which he pushed them 
toward the companion-way almost roughly. 

Tommy and Sam were not lads who could, or- 
dinarily, be bullied into doing anything against 
their will, and it was not exactly their will to 
make a cruise on xht Ellen Maria after having had 
time to realize how much sorrow they might cause 
their parents; but the fact remained that they 
had agreed to stow away, and it seemed as if Joe 
Babbidge was well within his rights when he in- 
sisted on their writing the letter at once, since 
they had decided it must be done before they could 
carry out their portion of the program. 

Therefore it was that the two lads suffered them- 
selves to be much the same as forced into the cabin 
of the Ellen Maria, and once there, with a greasy 
half-sheet of paper in front of them, it really 
seemed as if they were in duty bound to do as he 
bade them. 

“ You can do it better than I,” Sam said to 
Tommy, as Joe Babbidge placed on the swinging 
table the stub of a lead pencil. “ Be sure to let 
them know that we’re going with Captain Ben 
Babbidge, so they won’t worry.” 

“ An’ you don’t want to do much foolin’, else 
father’ll catch us here, an’ then the fat ’ucill be in 
the fire! ” Joe added nervously. 


STOWING AWAY 27 

With a tremulous sigh Tommy began the task, 
which evidently was not a simple one for him, as 
might be guessed from the fact that he hesitated 
often as if at a loss for the proper word, and now 
and then rubbed his nose in what might equally 
well have been perplexity or a disinclination to 
continue. The letter was finished after a time, 
however, much to the relief of Master Babbidge, 
and Sam read aloud the following when his cousin 
handed to him the result of his labors : 

“ Dear Mother : — 

“ Sam and I have got the finest kind of a chance 
to go on a fishing voyage with Captain Ben Bab- 
bidge. He lives at Bluehill, which Joe says is very 
near Bar Harbor, and by sailing on the Ellen 
Maria we can save father and Uncle Charles all 
the money they would have to pay for our rail- 
road tickets. We will, perhaps, get down there 
ahead of you, and if we do we’ll inquire at the 
hotels until we find out where father counted on 
stopping. 

“ I know you would be perfectly willing for me 
to go if you’d take the trouble to find out what 
kind of a fisherman Captain Ben is; but I’m afraid 
you wouldn’t be willing to spend the time, so Sam 
and I are going to hide ourselves on board the 
vessel this morning. The captain’s son will help 


28 TWO STOWAWAYS 

us, and explain matters to his father when the 
schooner gets out to sea, so you can understand 
that this is a chance such as we’d never have again, 
and both of us are eager to see what the Banks 
are like. 

“ I’m not certain that we’d go even after get- 
ting on board the vessel, because of fearing it 
might make you feel badly, if it wasn’t that we’ve 
promised Joe Babbidge and couldn’t back down 
now without telling a lie. ' 

“ I love you dearly, mother, and hope you’ll tell 
Uncle Charles where Sam is. 

“Your affectionate son, 
“Thomas F. Harriman.’’ 

“Well, I suppose that will fix matters for 
your father and mother; but how about mine?” 
Sam said thoughtfully when he had ceased read- 
ing. 

“ It seems as if I ought to write, too, else it will 
seem as if I didn’t care whether mother worried 
or not.” 

“Look here!” Joe Babbidge cried angrily. 
“ Do you count on writin’ letters to everybody an’ 
the cook, as if you was a couple of babies that 
didn’t dare to wink ’less all hands said you could 1 
I’m allowin’ you’ve spent time enough over this 
business, ’cause one letter is as good as a dozen. 


STOWING AWAY 29 

an’ I ain’t hankerin’ to have father find us here 
figgerin’ on puttin’ up a job on him. What you 
fellers want’er do is to get in’ter the hold an* 
snug down ” 

“ We must get an envelope for the letter, and 
then it Is to be posted,” Tommy cried Impatiently. 
“ I’d rather ten times over have to go back to the 
hotel, than start away without letting father and 
mother know where we’ve gone.” 

“ Here’s yer ’velope, an’ I’ll chuck It In’ter the 
post office box at the head of the dock jest as soon 
as you fellers are stowed away. Come along — 
get a move on, an’ be lively ’bout It I ” 

Tommy sealed and addressed the envelope, af- 
ter placing tenderly inside the somewhat unsatis- 
factory epistle he had written, and then proposed 
that he had better attend to the mailing of It 
himself, more particularly since it would be neces- 
sary to purchase a postage stamp ; but Master Bab- 
bidge took peremptory charge of affairs from this 
point. 

“ You’ll go below, that’s what you’ll do,” he 
said angrily. “ I’ve stood ’bout all the foolin’ 
I can, an’ now you’ll get in the hold, ’less you 
count on havin’ trouble with me. Do you think 
that only fellers from Philadelphy know how to 
chuck letters in’ter a post office box? You’ll wish 
your cake was dough if father gets back before 


30 TWO STOWAWAYS 

you’re stowed away, an’ we’ve done tongue-wag- 

gin’ enough for three or four sich jobs as this.” 

By this time Tommy and Sam were so heavy- 
hearted because of doing voluntarily that which 
would cause their parents sorrow, that they no 
longer had sufficient spirit to hold their own 
against the impetuous Master Babbidge, and 
without remonstrance they allowed themselves 
to be led from the cabin to the hatchway up on 
deck. 

Then, almost before realizing what had been 
done, they were actually pushed into the darkness 
of the hold, where were many unpleasant odors, 
Joe Babbidge saying hoarsely as he forced them 
on over what seemed to be a litter of boxes and 
barrels: 

“You fellers don’t know half how lucky you 
are ! I’ve fixed up the neatest kind of a place for 
yer, an’ you’ll be livin’ like pigs in clover while 
I’m on deck slavin’ my life away to keep father 
from knowin’ you’re aboard. Here you are ; down 
over this tier of casks, an’ what ’bout that? Ain’t 
it great? ” 

The lads from Philadelphia had suddenly 
plunged headlong into what was very like a chasm, 
where they lay bruised as to body, and sore at 
heart, unable to answer the question which Joe 
Babbidge had asked in a triumphant tone. 


STOWING AWAY 31 

“ Now I’ll shinney up to the head of the dock 
so’s to mail yer letter, an’ when I come back 
you can stand by for the grub I’m goin’ to stack 
up so’s you’ll have somethin’ to chew on while 
the Ellen Marians puttin’ to sea. You fellers are 
beginnin’ to have the greatest time you ever 
dreamed about, an’ I’m the one what’s givin’ it to 
yer! ” 

Because of the silence which ensued shortly af- 
ter this statement had been made. Tommy and 
Sam believed they had been left alone in the hold 
of the schooner, and the latter said in a tearful 
tone: 

“ I don’t know what that fellow calls a great 
time; but by the beginning of this stowing away, 
I’m getting the idea that the less he gives us of it 
the better we’ll be pleased.” 

“ We’re showing ourselves precious soft cakes 
by staying here just because of having promised 
to go on the cruise. Why don’t we walk ashore 
this very minute, without paying any attention 
to what he says? ” 

“ We might have done so before you gave him 
that letter to post; but now we’d get to the hotel 
about the same time it did, and I’m believing we’d 
have a warm time with our parents. There’s no 
use kicking now, for we’ve got to make the best 
of it — I’m not even certain that we could get out 


32 TWO STOWAWAYS 

of this place unless some one should show us the 

way.” 

Then the lads fell silent, and if two more re- 
pentant, despondent boys than they could have 
been found within the limits of Maine, then the 
fellows in the Pine Tree State must have been 
heavy-hearted indeed. 


CHAPTER IV 
Under Way 

During what seemed to them like a very long 
time, the boys who were eager to sail at least one 
cruise with Captain Ben Babbidge remained silent, 
each occupied with his own very disagreeable 
thoughts, and then Tommy whispered, for there 
was something so ghostly about this uncomfortable 
hiding place in the dark hold which seemed filled 
only with odors, that it did not sound respectful to 
speak in a loud tone. 

“ Of course we’re getting the rough part of it 
now, Sam. Everything will be different when we 
go on deck and help sail the vessel.” 

“ We’ll hope so, else fishing on the Banks is a 
good bit different from what Joe Babbidge made 
out,” Sam replied, in such a mournful tone that 
Tommy, suspecting the tears were very near his 
cousin’s eyelids, said, striving bravely to give a 
note of encouragement to the words: 

“ I’ll agree that it isn’t jolly down here, but 
we shan’t have to stay very long, for Joe said he’d 
call us just as soon as the schooner was at sea, and 
perhaps she’ll get there more quickly than he 
allowed.” 


33 


34 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Despite Tommy’s efforts to the contrary, there 
was a certain quaver in his voice which told that 
he was no more comfortable in mind than was his 
cousin, and, realizing this, he fell silent once more 
lest he betray the fact that his heart was very 
heavy. 

When it seemed to the stowaways as if a full 
half hour had passed, although in reality no more 
than two minutes had gone by, Sam said, as if hav- 
ing come to a determination which could not be 
shaken : 

“ I’m through making a fool of myself I There 
ain’t any fun. in this stowing away when we know 
our mothers will just about cry their eyes out after 
your letter gets to the hotel, and I’m going ashore, 
no matter what Joe Babbidge has to say about 
it!” 

“ How will we get out of this place? ” Tommy 
asked, and it was not difficult to understand by his 
tone that the idea of abandoning the schooner was 
decidedly pleasing. 

“ It’s queer if two fellows like us can’t get back 
the way we came! That light over there comes 
from the hatchway, and we’re only to keep on 
across these barrels till we come to it.” 

“ But suppose Joe’s father has got back, and 
should see us? ” 

“ I don’t care if he does,” Sam replied passion- 


UNDER WAY 35 

ately. “ No matter how roughly he acts, I shan’t 
feel as badly over it as I do with thinking of 
how mother will cry when she knows we’ve run 
away.” 

Master Chesley rose reluctantly to his feet as 
he spoke, and when Tommy stood erect, with his 
head above the barricade of casks which Joe Bab- 
bidge had erected that they might remain con- 
cealed from view of any one who entered the hold, 
the light which came through the open hatch shone 
brightly, as if full of promise to lads who had . 
suddenly resolved to mend their ways. 

“We’re dummies if we can’t do it!” Tommy 
cried in a tone of relief as the way stood thus re- 
vealed to them. “ I’d been out of here before 
this if I’d known how easy it looks — it seemed to 
me as if Joe had carried us a very long distance 
from the hatch.” 

Without regard to the fact that they were soil- 
ing their clothes, the two lads scrambled eagerly 
across the dirty casks, forced to crawl on hands 
and knees because the cargo came so near the deck- 
timbers that it was impossible to walk erect, and 
I dare venture to say that neither of them had 
been so happy since the stowing away was first 
decided upon, as then, when it seemed certain they 
would soon be with their mothers. 

They were yet some considerable distance from 


36 TWO STOWAWAYS 

the shaft of light which indicated the road to free- 
dom, when a sudden crash, not unlike the booming 
of a heavy gun was heard, and on the Instant they 
were plunged In darkness so profound that it 
really seemed stifling. 

“ What’s the matter? ” Sam asked in a quaver- 
ing voice as he clutched at the arm of his cousin, 
and the latter, hesitating an instant, replied with 
a choking sob: 

“ Oh, Sam ! Sam ! They’ve shut us up In here, 
and now we can’t get out, no matter how hard we 
try I ” 

“You mean that they’ve put the hatch on? I 
will get out, no matter how many hatches they pile 
over that holel I won’t stow away any longer! 
Come on quick. Tommy, and we’ll soon let them 
know that we’re not going to be lugged off like 
this.” 

Sam was scrambling hurriedly toward the 
place from which the light had been shut off 
so suddenly, dragging his cousin with him, and 
Tommy, whose one desire was to be with his 
mother again, did his best to keep the awkward 
pace. 

It was not possible for the lads to make any 
very rapid headway over the wet, grimy casks; 
but both struggled to their utmost, for they un- 
derstood, even in their ignorance of fishermen’s 


UNDER WAY 37 

ways, that this closing of the hatch was the first 
step toward putting to sea. 

Until the light failed them so suddenly, no noise 
had been heard from the deck; but now it was as 
if the schooner had been taken possession of by an 
army of men. The trampling of many feet 
sounded on the planks above ; heavy blows told of 
yet more cargo being put on board, and, what was 
terrifying now that the boys from Philadelphia 
had decided to go ashore, there came a rocking 
motion of the vessel as if she had already left the 
pier. 

“ Hurry, oh, do hurry! ” Sam cried, no longer 
trying to restrain his tears. “ We’ve got to get 
out of here mighty quick, or the schooner will be 
going to sea 1 ” 

There was little need to thus urge Tommy. He 
knew as well as did his cousin that there was no 
time to waste if they would repair the evil which 
had been so heedlessly committed, and his sole de- 
sire was to part company with the Ellen Maria 
and Joe Babbidge as soon as might be. With no 
ray of light to guide them, however, and un- 
familiar as they were with such places, the stow- 
aways were not making rapid progress, nor were 
they aware that instead of going in the proper di- 
rection, they had turned aside ever so slightly from 
a straight course. The hatchway was now behind 


38 TWO STOWAWAYS 

them, and of this fact they were ignorant until sud- 
denly Sam bumped his head against what ap- 
peared to be a wall of planks. 

They had come to the forward bulkhead, which 
shut off the fore-peak from the hold, and on this, 
because of being at a loss to know what else could 
be done, they pounded with all their strength 
while shouting for Joe Babbidge to take off the 
“ cover ” that they might get out. 

Even though the Ellen Maria had remained 
made fast to the pier and there was no movement 
on deck, their outcries could not have been heard. 
Had Joe been with them he would have guessed 
that Captain Ben had come on board with his 
crew, and, the wind being favorable, was making 
all haste to put to sea that the work of fishing 
might be begun at the earliest opportunity. Joe 
would also have understood by the rocking of the 
schooner that she had already left the pier, and, 
what was more to the purpose, might have told the 
stowaways that they could pound on the bulkhead 
and scream until they were black in the face, with- 
out being heard by those on deck. 

However, of all this the lads from Philadelphia 
were ignorant, and they continued their exertions 
until the rolling of the Ellen Maria was so severe 
that, landsmen though they were, it was impos- 
sible to longer mistake the reason. 


UNDER WAY 39 

“ She’s out on the ocean, and we can’t get back 
to the hotel! ” Sam cried in a tone of despair as 
he realized the situation. “ We’ve run away from 
our parents just when they were trying to give us 
a good time, and it’s the wickedest thing we could 
have done.” 

There was no longer any attempt on his part 
to keep back the tears which had been hovering 
near his eyelids, and, throwing himself down upon 
the grimy casks, he gave full sway to grief and 
despair. 

While one might have counted twenty Tommy 
strove to hold his sorrow and remorse in check, and 
then the audible repentance of his cousin was too 
much for him, therefore he also yielded to grief. 

How long the two stowaways lay in the dark 
hold mourning sorely because that which, a few 
hours previous, they so earnestly desired had come 
to pass, neither could have even guessed; but it 
was as if a very, very long time had elapsed when 
they were disagreeably reminded that the Ellen 
Maria was behaving in a manner most uncomfort- 
able to them. 

The rocking motion had deepened into a long 
and by no means lazy roll, while to this was added 
a rising and falling motion which caused it to ap- 
pear as if she was striving to move in every direc- 
tion at the same time. It was no longer possible for 


40 TWO STOWAWAYS 

the stowaways to remain in one position, save 
when they clutched the head of a cask and exerted 
all their strength, while the creaking of timbers, 
the pounding of the waves against the hull, and 
the groaning and squeaking of the cargo as it set- 
tled here and there, caused such a din as put an 
end to any conversation carried on in an ordinary 
tone. 

“ What will we do? ” Sam cried with his mouth 
very near Tommy’s ear, and so great was the fear 
which had come upon him that he forgot, for the 
time being, all sorrow because of thus having run 
away from his parents. 

“ There’s nothing for it but to stay here till Joe 
comes to let us out,” Tommy replied, screaming 
at the full strength of his lungs. “ He said he’d 
come as soon as the vessel was out at sea, and 
that’s where she must be by this time.” Then, as 
a sudden thought occurred to him, he added, 
“We ought to get back into the hole he made, 
else he won’t find us, and I can’t stand this a great 
while longer.” 

The possibility that they might be actually lost 
amid the cargo, not to be found by the boy who 
claimed to be their friend, was so terrifying that 
although he did not believe they could make their 
way from one end of this cavern of darkness to 
the other, Sam Immediately began to scramble 


UNDER WAY 41 

across the casks in the hope of finding once more 
that alleged “ snug ” hiding place. 

Even in the light of day this would have been 
a difficult task for such inexperienced sailors while 
the schooner was plunging so wildly; but in the 
blackness of the hold it was well-nigh impossible. 
In the first place, they were by no means certain as 
to the proper direction, and then, no sooner had 
they managed to scramble over a cask than the 
Ellen Maria, in one of her upward flights or down- 
ward plunges, flung them to this side or that, until 
they were in much the same condition as lads who 
had been beaten with cudgels. 

“ It’s no use to try any more,” Sam cried after 
ten minutes of such discouraging labor, and the 
two were lying between some casks and the side 
of the schooner, where they had been flung by 
the Ellen Marians erratic plunging. “ We’ve got 
to stay here till we die, for that boy must have for- 
gotten all about us, and we’re served well right 
for being so mean as to run away.” 

“ Of course he hasn’t forgotten us,” Tommy 
replied, trying to speak reassuringly even while 
he feared that his cousin might have spoken truly. 
“ Perhaps he hasn’t had a chance to tell his father 
about our being here. You know he said he’d 
try to fix it for us before we came out.” 

“ There’s no need of his fixing anything for me, 


42 TWO STOWAWAYS 

because Tm going to die right here; that’s what’s 
the matter, and I don’t care if I do — I mean, I 
wouldn’t care so very much if I could tell mother 
that I’m sorry for having run away.” 

“ Are you sick, Sam? ” and now Tommy’s fears 
had increased to positive terror. 

‘‘ Indeed I am; there’s something wrong in my 
stomach, and I can’t stand it a great while longer. 
Say, it must be to-morrow, ain’t it? ” 

“ Perhaps it is in the night, and we haven’t been 
here more than one day. I — I — I’m beginning to 
feel pretty bad myself I Do you suppose we’re 
seasick? ” 

“It’s a heap worse than that. Tommy I We 
wouldn’t be seasick, else why wasn’t we when we 
went out blue fishing from Atlantic City with 
father? It’s the terrible smells in this place that 
are killing us, and I know we’ve been here longer 
than only one day.” 

At that very moment Joe Babbidge was stand- 
ing near the wheel watching the lighthouses on 
Cape Elizabeth, saying to himself that when they 
were astern, and the lightship had been left well 
to starboard, he would tell his father that there 
were two stowaways from Philadelphia in the 
hold. 

“ I’ll have ’em on deck before we’ve been out 
of port three hours,” he muttered, “ an’ then they’ll 


UNDER WAY 43 

see that stowin’ away don’t amount to so very 
much after all. It’s too bad I forgot to carry 
anything down for them to eat, for I’m reckonin’ 
they must be kind’er hungry by this time.” 

It was light and fresh air that the stowaways 
were needing just at that moment, and the mere 
sight of food would have been most disagreeable 
to the frightened, grieEstricken lads, who could 
not have been persuaded, however eloquently Joe 
might have spoken, that two hours had not elapsed 
since- the Ellen Maria began to dance about on the 
gentle swell of the ocean. 

“Are you feeling any better, Sam?” Tommy 
asked, struggling desperately against the sickening 
sensation which well-nigh overpowered him, as he 
laid his hand on the shoulder of his cousin, who 
had given no signs of life during the past three 
or four minutes. 

• “I couldn’t be any better while we’re in this 
place! ” Sam moaned. “ I’m dying. Tommy, and 
it’s all because I was so mean as to run away from 
the only ones who care for me. If you live longer 
than I do, you’ll tell mother how badly I felt be- 
cause I’ve stowed away in this dreadful vessel, 
won’t you? ” 

“ Don’t talk about dying, Sam, please don’t! ” 
Tommy cried piteously, as he buried his face in his 
cousin’s coat. “ We mustn’t do anything like that 


44 TWO STOWAWAYS 

till after weVe had a chance to tell our mothers 
how sorry we are ! Joe Babbidge must come soon, 
for he can’t have forgotten that we’re here ! ” 

“ I never want to see that fellow again I ” and 
now Sam’s anger got the better of his heaving 
stomach. “ If it hadn’t been for him and his 
yarns about the fun which fishermen have, we 
wouldn’t be in this dreadful place ! ” 

“ But we are here, and we’re bound to see him 
again sometime — that is, if we’re alive when he 
makes up his mind to hunt for us.” 

“ We’ll be dead before he gets around to think- 
ing about us, and perhaps that was what he counted 
on when he coaxed us into making such fools of 
ourselves. Just as likely as not he never mailed 
the letter you wrote.” 

This was a possibility Tommy had not even 
dreamed of, and now that it was suggested his 
grief was at its height, for if their parents were 
wholly ignorant of the stowing away, how great 
must be the sorrow they had caused. 

The thought was too terrible to be entertained, 
but yet the lad could not banish it, try as he 
might, and the tears which came like a flood seemed 
to increase rather than soothe his bitter grief and 
unavailing repentance. 


CHAPTER V 
Captain Ben 

It is an open question whether the grief of the 
stowaways caused by the thought that death might 
come to them before they could beg forgiveness of 
their parents, served to allay the sickness of the 
sea ; or if the nausea in their stomachs soothed the 
sorrow. However it may be, after a certain time 
their eyelids were closed in slumber, although 
there had been no idea in their minds that sleep 
was near at hand. 

And while they were thus blissfully unconscious 
of the wrong done those who loved them, or of 
bodily distress, the Ellen Maria was, as Captain 
Ben expressed it, “ eatin’ the miles up like a glut- 
ton,” which was the same as if he had said that 
she was making good headway. 

The wind sang merrily among the rigging, 
with now and then a sharp twang which told that 
soon it would come with greater strength, and Cap- 
tain Ben was in as good spirits as a fisherman well 
could be, with knowing that there would be no 
time wasted because of calms or adverse breezes. 
He stood at the helm, holding her to a course as 

45 


46 TWO STOWAWAYS 

true as if laid down by rule, and the milky wake 
which could be seen astern after the schooner had 
been brought around with her bow-sprit pointed 
directly for George’s Banks, was as straight as a 
carefully made chalk line. 

“ There, son,” the master of the Ellen Maria 
said to Joe, as he looked over his shoulder to mark 
the result of his own skill, “ when you can hold 
the old hooker as nigh on a bee-line as that. I’m 
allowin’ you’ll be fit to stand your trick at the 
wheel.” 

“ I don’t reckon anybody but you could hold 
her steady like that,” Master Babbidge replied, 
knowing full well that his father prided himself 
on his skill with the helm, and believing a lit- 
tle flattery just at that moment would pave the 
way for the confession he must presently make. 
“ If this wind holds, we’ll soon have the dories 
out, eh?” 

“ An’ it’ll do more’n hold, son,” the captain re- 
plied in a tone of satisfaction. “ There’s a good 
bit of w^eight behind this breeze, an’ except the 
luck takes a mighty big turn, we’ll be back to port 
with a full fare while prices are good.” 

“ It looks like a case of heatin’ all the rest of 
the fleet, for we’re the first to get under way.” 

“ That’s what, son. The General Grant is the 
only, other craft that’s anywhere nigh bein’ ready 


CAPTAIN BEN 47 

for sea, an’ she won’t leave within the next eight 
an’ forty hours. We’ve got ’em beat to a finish 
this time, Joey, boy!” and Captain Ben looked 
over his shoulder once more at the ribbon of foam 
which gave evidence of his skill at the helm. 

“ It was jest sich a day as this when I came on 
deck from stowin’ away so’s I could make my first 
trip in the Ellen Maria/^ Master Babbidge said 
abruptly after a short pause. “ Oh, my ! but didn’t 
you carry on, an’ threaten what you’d do with a 
rope’s end! ” 

“ But I wasn’t meanin’ any great part of what 
I said, son, ’cause I couldn’t help feelin’ proud of 
you. It showed that you was cut out for a fisher- 
man, an’ from the minute you was born I’d hoped 
you’d be able to take the Ellen Marta when I 
was through with her. It ain’t a callin’ in which 
a man can get rich, Joey, boy; but if a fisherman 
owns his craft, with, a bit of a nest egg to outfit 
her at the beginnin’ of the season, he’s about as 
well off as I allow any man ought’er be.” 

“ Then you don’t blame me so awful much for 
stowin’ away? ” 

“ How could I, son, when it pleased me way 
down to the ground for you to show so much 
pluck?” 

“ I reckon there are lots other boys who’d like 
to do the same thing,” and now Master Babbidge 


*48 TWO STOWAWAYS 

gazed forward, as if unwilling his face should be 
seen. 

“ I allow you’re right, son, an’ we’ll hope they 
come out’er the scrape, if so be any try it, as well 
as you did.” 

“ Two fellers came hangin’ ’round the schooner 
this mornin’, an’ they was mighty keen to go 
fishin’,” Joe said, speaking hurriedly, and still 
holding his face turned so that his father might 
not see it. “ They lived way off in Philadelphy, an’ 
didn’t even know what the Banks were — thought 
they must be somethin’ like a island. I couldn’t 
help feelin’ sorry ’cause they’d never had a 
chance like mine, an ” 

“ Look at me, son ! ” and now Captain Ben 
spoke sternly, adding when Joe turned toward him 
reluctantly, “ Did you do any more’n feel sorry? ” 

“Why, what else could I do?” and Master 
Babbidge’s face took on a crimson hue which 
might be seen despite its bronzing by the sun and 
wind. 

“ What put inter yer mind jest now the facts 
of your own stowin’ away? ” 

“ Pr’haps it was the wind, father,” Joe stam- 
mered. 

“ See here, son, you’ve been fishin’ with me two 
years’ an’ a leetle more. In all that time I’m al- 
lowin’ that the wind has freshened up like this at 


CAPTAIN BEN 49 

least once every week, an’ it’s kind’er odd you was 
never before so far reminded of what you’d done 
as to speak to me ’bout it.” 

Joe shifted about uneasily, standing first on one 
foot and then on the other, until his father 
asked abruptly: 

“ Son, how many boys have you got stowed in 
the hold?” 

“How many?” Master Babbidge repeated, 
now showing plainly that he was frightened. “ I 
wasn’t allowin’ that there’d be any.” 

“ I ain’t so terrible dull, son, even if I be your 
father. I’m willin’ to admit that you hadn’t quite 
got ready to allow it; but you was pavin’ the way, 
so to speak. Out with it, an’ let’s get to an end 
of the yarn before we’re too far from port.” 

“ But with sich a wind as this you wouldn’t 
put back, no matter how many boys we’d got be- 
low!” and now Master Babbidge looked thor- 
oughly frightened. 

“ I ain’t sayin’ what I might do,” and Captain 
Ben spoke severely. “ You’ve the same as told 
me, without sayin’ very much, that we’ve got more 
aboard than I’d allowed, an’ if you’re so nigh 
tongue-tied that you can’t tell the yarn to the end, 
I’ll have the hold overhauled.” 

“ But, father, other fellers want to try their 
hands at fishin’ as bad as I did! ” 


50 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ How many are there in the 'hold? ” 

“ Two; an’ they’re jest about crazy to go fishin’. 
They’ve never seen a vessel like the Ellen Maria, 
an’ when I told ’em who was cap’in of her they 
wanted to go the worst way. Say, you won’t ” 

“ Who are they, an’ what do you know about 
’em? ” 

Captain Ben asked the question so sternly, and 
with such an expression of concern on his face, that 
Joe did not dare to withhold longer the informa- 
tion at his command, but hurriedly told his father 
all the story, concluding by saying pleadingly: 

“ It won’t take long to break ’em in, an’ then 
they’ll be able to pay their way. I’ll do the very 
best I know how from this out if you’ll only let 
’em try it one trip ! ” 

“But what about their folks?” and now the 
captain spoke in a more kindly tone. “ ’Cordin’ 
to your own story they’ve run away, which is a 
good bit more’n you did, ’cause your mother 
knew what was a-foot. Do you think it’s all plain 
sailin’ when a boy runs away from his people, 
leavin’ them to break their hearts over wonderin’ 
where he is? ” 

“ But they wrote to their folks ! I know they 
did, ’cause I put the letter inter the post office for 
’em.” 

“ An’ I ’spose they think that squares every- 


CAPTAIN BEN 51 

thin’, in case they’d made up their minds to run 
away? They write down all about bein’ the mean- 
est kind of mean skunks, as they’ve proved them- 
selves to be, an’ allow that their duty has been 
done. After all the care an’ worry their folks 
have had for ’em since they came Into this world, 
it’s wiped out by a letter, eh? I allow I’d cry 
downright tears if a boy of mine could have it in 
his heart to do sich a trick! ” 

Knowing what share he had had In the stowing 
away, Master Babbidge felt as If his father’s con- 
demnation of the lads from Philadelphia applied 
directly to himself, and he had sufficient of manli- 
ness In his nature to confess then and there what 
part he took In the scheme. 

“ I kind’er had an idee that you might ’er put 
your oar In pretty heavy, son,” Captain Babbidge 
said grimly when the story was come to an end, 
an’ seein’s how you’re a bit deeper In the mud 
than they are In the mire, I’ll have to help you out 
of what I allow Is a nasty scrape. You’d better 
get ’em on deck, for I reckon they’ve had consid- 
erable of a dose, even though they haven’t got 
what was deserved, an’ I’ll try to figger how we 
can straighten matters quickest.” 

“ What are you thinkin’ of doin’, father? ” Joe 
asked anxiously. 

“ You wasn’t overly eager to know that when 


52 TWO STOWAWAYS 

you helped the lads stow away, an’ by the same 
token I reckon you can Wait a spell to find out. 
Get yer gang on deck, an’ we’ll talk it over.” 

Feeling very much ashamed of what he had 
done. Master Babbidge went forward to where 
Moses Salter, the oldest member of the crew, was 
lying on the deck sunning himself, and asked him 
if he would aid in raising the hatch. 

Not until old Moses had been made acquainted 
with all the details would he so much as lift a 
hand to the work, and then, rising slowly from 
the deck as if undecided as to which direction his 
duty lay, he said in the tone of one who has been 
given the right to read a lecture: 

“ The wonder to me is how boys can have 
hearts hard enough to play sich a beastly trick 
as runnin’ away, knowin’ that it’s the mother an’ 
father that’s called on to suffer most! You may 
think, Joe Babbidge, that it’s smart to cut a trick 
like that; but if them as are in the hold live as 
long as I have, they’ll know how bitter a punish- 
ment is sure to follow.” 

“ Did you ever run away, Moses? ” Joe asked 
In surprise. 

“ Indeed I did, lad, more to my sorrow. I 
left as good a mother as ever lived, that I might 
ship on a whaler, thinkin’ I was playin’ the man, 
an’ when I came back after four of the roughest 


CAPTAIN BEN 53' 

years I’ve ever known, she was in her grave, sent 
there through worryin’ ’bout me. I’d give one of 
my hands, an’ the Lord knows I need both of ’em 
as badly as does any man, to hear her say that 
she’d forgiven me for bein’ sich a hard-hearted 
sneak! ” 

Master Babbidge had no reply to make to this 
outburst; there had suddenly come into his throat 
something very like a solid sob, which choked 
him, and in silence he followed Moses to the hatch. 

Immediately the way was opened, Joe lowered 
himself into the hold, and great was his surprise 
because the stowaways did not show themselves 
at once; he had expected they would be eager to 
go on deck, and yet nothing could be seen of 
them. 

Hurriedly the lad made his way to the hiding 
place which had seemed so snug when he tiered up 
the casks, and a great fear came over him at find- 
ing it empty. It could not be possible they had 
come to any harm during the short time which 
had elapsed since the Ellen Maria left port, but 
yet, if they were alive and well, why did he not 
find them ? 

Trembling with fear and excitement, he 
scrambled from one end of the hold to the other, 
and then, at the very moment when he was saying 
to himself that some terrible misfortune had be- 


54 TWO STOWAWAYS 

fallen them, he came upon the stowaways, both 

sleeping soundly. 

“How did you fellers get over here?” he 
cried, shaking each In turn, and as the sick, re- 
morseful, grIef-strIcken lads rose to a sitting pos- 
ture with a full knowledge of what they had 
done. Master Babbidge was reproved even more 
strongly than he had been by the words of his 
father and old Moses. 

“Why didn’t you come before?” Tommy 
asked with a sob. “ WeVe both of us been very 
near dying, and if we hadn’t been so sick that we 
couldn’t have eaten, we’d starved to death ! ” 

“ I don’t allow you’d do much starvin’ in a 
couple of hours,” Joe replied with a laugh, forget- 
ting for the moment the cause he had for self- 
reproach. “ I didn’t reckon, when you made up 
your minds to stowaway, that I’d have a chance 
to come till the day after we’d left port; but here 
I am while the lightship is close aboard astern.” 

“How long have we been here?” Sam asked 
severely, and, strange as It may seem, with no sen- 
sation of that nausea which had beset him so 
sorely at the time he fell asleep. 

“ It can’t be much more’n two hours — pr’haps 
three. Anyway, we’re still off the Cape shore, an’ 
it ain’t certain but father’ll put back so’s to send 
you to the hotel.” 


CAPTAIN BEN 55 

“ Oh, I do so hope he will ! ” Tommy cried fer- 
vently, and Sam said sharply: 

“ What good is it for you to try to fool us? 
We’d been down here as much as two days before 
we went to sleep ! ” 

“ Come on deck, an’ you’ll see that I’ve only 
been tellin’ the truth,” Master Babbidge replied 
with a laugh, and a cloud came over his face as 
he added, “ Father wants to see you, an’ it won’t 
pay to keep him waitin’ very long.” 

“ Is he angry because we stowed away on his 
vessel? ” Tommy asked in a tone of fear. 

“ Wa’al, he ain’t feelin’ any too fine ’bout it, 
an’ that’s the fact. He chafed under the collar 
a good bit when he first found out you were here, 
but things are easin’ up considerable. Get a move 
on, ’cause it allers riles him to wait.” 

“ I’m too sick to stand up while the vessel is 
movin’ around so queerly,” Sam said, making no 
effort to change his position, and Master Babbidge 
cried in a tone of genuine fear: 

“ If you don’t stir your stumps there will be a 
row sure! You can’t have grown so awful bad in 
the little while you’ve been here, an’ you’re bound 
to come on deck lively, no matter how you feel! ” 


CHAPTER VI 
The Culprits 

When Master Babbidge predicted that, under 
certain circumstances, the stowaways might have 
a disagreeable interview with the captain of the 
Ellen Maria, Sam came very near losing his tem- 
per, as could be understood when he said sharply : 

“ I thought you agreed to fix it up with your 
father before he knew we were on board. Ac- 
cording to the way you stated it, he would 
be pleased to have us with him, and now you 
say there will be a row if we don’t hurry on 
deck! ” 

“ Wa’al, that’s jest the size of it, no matter 
what I said when we was in port. Things ain’t 
the way I’d figgered, on account of my wantin’ to 
get you out of this place quick. You see father 
hasn’t had time to take the whole thing in yet, 
seein’s how I sprung the business before we’d got 
very far from the lightship,” Master Babbidge 
replied in an injured tone, much as if he felt 
keenly the reproach in Sam’s words. “ What you 
want to do now is to step up to the dough-dish 
lively before he gets real mad, an’ I’ll answer for 
56 


THE CULPRITS 


57 

it that he’ll treat you white. Why don’t you get 
a move on before all hands come snoopin’ ’round 
to see what’s goin’ on?” 

“ How can we be expected to move very much 
while the vessel is jumping so badly?” Tommy 
asked plaintively. “We’re too sick to stand, 
and even though we were feeling all right, 
how would it be possible for us to get up 
there? ” 

During) the last portion of this conversation 
Master Babbidge had clambered out of the hold 
to where Moses Salter was leaning over the comb- 
ing of the hatchway watching the proceedings, 
and, seeing that the lads from Philadelphia made 
no effort to aid themselves, the old man said 
curtly : 

“ Boys who run away from home mustn’t ex- 
pect to be fed with silver spoons. It don’t make 
overly much difference what kind of a song Joe 
sang when he was ashore, you’re old enough to 
know that no decent man is goin’ to coddle up a 
couple of sneaks — for that’s what you’ve shown 
yourselves to be. It’s a case of swallowin’ the 
medicine that Cap’in Ben has a mind to deal out, 
unless you’re willin’ this ’ere crew should take you 
for babies as well as fools ! ” 

“Who are you?” Tommy asked in surprise, 
but in a respectful tone. After what Master Bab- 


58 TWO STOWAWAYS 

bidge had told him about the delights of stowing 
away, it astonished him to hear any one speak 
harshly to invalids such as himself and his cousin. 

“ I’m nothin’ but a every-day fisherman, who 
wouldn’t have taken it on himself to talk sharp 
unless you’d showed that it was deserved. If I’d 
met you two ashore. I’d have taken you for a 
couple of young gentlemen on account of your 
clothes; but when you flash up as stowaways 
who’ve run away from father an’ mother, I allow 
you’ve given all hands the right to say pretty much 
what they please.” 

Then the old man would have turned his back 
on the sick and repentant lads from Philadelphia, 
but that Master Babbidge said imploringly: 

“ Lend me a hand in gettin’ ’em on deck, will 
yer Moses? Father’ll have a terrible edge to his 
temper if they don’t get aft mighty quick! ” 

For reply the old man passed down the end of 
a heaving-line, saying to Tommy as he did so: 

“ Lay hold of that, an’ I’ll show yer how to 
get out, if so be you haven’t life enough to swarm 
up the stanchion.” 

It is doubtful if Tommy really understood the 
words; but he could see the rope, and clutching 
it frantically, as a drowning man is supposed to 
clutch a straw, he suffered himself to be pulled 
up on deck, being greeted by a chorus of shouts 


THE CULPRITS 59 

and jeers from the idle members of the crew who 
had gathered near at hand to witness the appear- 
ance of the stowaways. 

Old Moses literally shook him off the rope as 
if he had been nothing more than a very large, 
sick lobster, and lowered it once more for Sam’s 
benefit, saying gruffly as he did so : 

“ Catch it, you lubber, for the cap’in is achin’ 
to see what you look like.” 

Sam was by this time too thoroughly frightened 
to disobey, and in a very few seconds he was 
dragged on deck by the side of his cousin, the two 
lads sitting on the wet planks as if unable to aid 
themselves in the slightest degree, until the voice of 
Captain Ben was heard, the angry note in it warn- 
ing the stowaways that it would not be wise for 
them to give themselves over any longer to the 
poor luxury of being sick. 

“ Come aft here, an’ let me see what you look 
like, or I’ll find a way to make you move ! ” the 
master of the Ellen Maria roared, and on the 
instant Sam and Tommy scrambled to their 
wabbly legs, looking much more frightened than 

ill. 

However eager they were to obey the harsh 
command, it seemed a matter of impossibility to 
make their way aft while the schooner was heeled 
over to what seemed such an alarming degree, and 


6o TWO STOWAWAYS 

Joe Babbldge, who appeared to be quite as much 

frightened as were his guests, whispered hoarsely : 

“ Lay hold of the rail, if you can’t stand 
straight, an’ whatever else you do, move lively, 
cause father’s getting all haired up worse’n I’ve 
ever seen him before.” 

How they contrived to traverse the short dis- 
tance from the hatchway to within a few feet of 
the wheel, neither Tommy nor Sam ever knew. 
It was accomplished, however, and, half sprawling 
on the top of the deck house in order to save 
themselves from being flung overboard by the 
erratic movements of the Ellen Maria, the culprits 
were forced to submit to a searching examination 
by Captain Ben. 

He first insisted on being told all they knew 
about themselves and their parents; how it 
chanced that they were, in Portland, and where 
they had counted on spending the summer, after 
which he asked in what seemed to the stowaways 
to be a threatening tone: 

“ What right had you to stow away on an 
honest vessel, eh? Do you count that we’re run- 
nin’ this ’ere schooner’^jest for the sake of takin’ 
care of a couple of no-goods who ain’t wanted 
at home, as is shown by their runnin’ away? ” 

“We are wanted at home! ” Sam cried indig- 
nantly, and added with a wail of grief, “ I’d give 


THE CULPRITS 6i 

everything I’ve got in this world or ever ex- 
pect to have, if I could be there this very min- 
ute ! ” 

“ Why didn’t you think of that before hidin’ 
yourselves below? ” 

“ It didn’t seem to be so very bad a trick when 
your son told us how he stowed away once, and be- 
cause he said we wouldn’t be many days on the 
voyage,” Tommy sobbed. “ We never thought 
about being sick, and we surely didn’t think you’d 
care so very much, providing we did our share of 
the work.” 

“ So you was willin’ to work yer passage, eh? 
Wa’al now, that’s generous for a fact; it strikes 
me I might let the crew go ashore, if you’re ready 
to bear a hand ! ” And Captain Ben chuckled over 
what appeared to him like a rare joke, until the 
expression of ferocity had left his face. “ How 
would it do if I was to ask you to overhaul the 
flyin’ jib? It’s a job that’s got to be done ’twixt 
now an’ we make port agin, an’ the sooner it’s 
out’er the way the better.” 

Sam looked forward to where the Ellen Maria 
was throwing the spray in showers over her short 
bowsprit, and then buried his face in his hands, 
while Tommy, trying in vain to suppress a sob, 
replied : 

“ We’d be willing to do it, sir, if we could; but 


62 TWO STOWAWAYS 

neither Sam nor I know anything about being 

sailors.” 

“ Then how do you expect to work your pas- 
sage? ” 

“ We can’t, sir, unless you have something on 
deck for us to do, and even then I’m afraid we 
wouldn’t be of much assistance while the vessel is 
tumbling about so badly.” 

“ An’ do you expect that I can afford to give 
you a passage? We don’t allow to keep on board 
a fisherman cats what can’t catch mice.” 

To this remark neither of the lads made reply, 
and Captain Ben, after apparently turning the 
matter over in his mind, said abruptly: 

“ It strikes me that the only thing left is for 
me to put you aboard the first Portland-bound 
craft that we come across; if so be your fathers 
would be likely to pay for havin’ you brought 
back?” 

“ I’m sure father or Uncle Charles would pay 
whatever the people who should take us would 
ask for,” Tommy cried quickly, and for the first 
time since having been brought to light an ex- 
pression of hope came over his tear-stained face. 

“ Then it would suit you to go back an’ take 
whatever dose your father might deal out to 
square up for your runnin’ away, eh?” Captain 
Ben asked thoughtfully. 


THE CULPRITS 63 

“ Indeed it would, sir; and besides, I’ll give 
you the two dollars I’ve got in my pocket! ” Sam 
cried, eagerly. 

“ That wouldn’t pay for the time I’d lose in 
overhaulin’ some other craft,” Captain Ben re- 
plied, as if he had decided upon a sudden change 
of plan. “ If it wasn’t that my boy Joe seems to 
have had a pretty big finger in this ’ere pie. I’d 
start in by givin’ you the best floggin’ you ever 
had, an’ as it is I ain’t countin’ on lettin’ you off 
any too easy. There’s no room for you to bunk 
aft, so you’ll have to take what you can get in the 
forepeak. Run ’em for’ard, Joe, an’ see what 
kind of a sleepin’ place you can rig up there. Af- 
ter that you three will turn to an’ swab down the 
decks — that is, if the Philadelphy stowaways can 
keep on their feet long enough.” 

Master Babbidge turned promptly to obey, 
pulling his friends with him, but Sam hung back 
sufficiently long to ask: 

“ Do you think it will be a great while, sir, be- 
fore you can send us back on some other vessel? ” 

“ I’ve changed my mind about that part of it. 
You’ll stay aboard the Ellen Maria long enough 
to pay for all the trouble I’m like to have on your 
account, an’ can reckon on seein’ Bar Harbor 
somewhere ’bout the last of August, in time to go 
home with your folks, if so be they stay so long. 


64 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Get for’ard there, an’ don’t make the mistake of 
tryin’ to answer me back! ” he added, as Tommy 
gave evidence of wanting to say something more, 
and Joe, looking even more frightened than did 
the lads from Philadelphia, urged them forward 
rapidly. 

“ Do you reely count on keepin’ ’em aboard, 
Cap’In Ben? ” Moses Salter asked curiously when 
the lads were so far away that the words could 
not be overheard by them. 

“ Aye, that’s what come Inter my mind, Moses, 
when I saw how keen they was to get back. I’m 
goln’ to do by ’em as I’d like any one to do by 
mine, if he was In the same box. We’ll wrastle 
them boys ’round for three or four weeks, same’s 
they’d get It aboard some fishermen I know of, 
an’ by that time I reckon they’ll be cured for good 
an’ all of wantin’ to run away. If they get back 
to their people too soon, an’ before there’s been 
any roughin’, you can’t rightly say that they’ll be- 
have themselves better In the future. I’m count- 
in’ on givin’ ’em a lesson that won’t be forgot.” 

“ But what ’bout their folks? ” Moses asked 
anxiously. 

“ I ain’t quite a brute, Moses, an’ while Joseph 
continues bein’ giddy-headed. I’m not likely to for- 
get that I’m a father. When I saw how keen 
these ’ere stowaways of ours was to get back home. 


THE CULPRITS 65 

it struck me that I’d be doin’ a good deed to keep 
’em aboard till they’d had enough an’ to spare of 
fishin’. If this wind holds, as is likely, we can 
run into Boothbay ’long ’bout midnight, when the 
boys are asleep, an’ there I’ll squander what’s 
needed in the way of money, by telegraphin’ to 
the fathers of the lads where they are, an’ what I 
count on doin’. It’ll take quite a bit of cash, for 
it’s an expensive way of sendin’ news; but I’m 
goin’ to do it if I bust the Ellen Maria. The 
worst part of the whole thing is how to put the 
story down in black and white. I’ll be needin’ 
considerable time at the job, so s’posen you take 
the helum, an’ I’ll tackle it straight off. If one of 
the boys shows hisself, yell as though you counted 
on takin’ his head off. We’ll give ’em the idee 
we’re the worst lot of bankers that ever sailed out 
of Portland.” 

Old Moses spit on his hands to make certain of 
getting a firm grip upon the spokes of the wheel, 
and Captain Ben went into the cabin to write a 
telegram, looking meanwhile as if a most formid- 
able undertaking was before him. 

By this time Master Babbidge and his guests 
had found their way into the forepeak, and a for- 
lorn, desolate-looking place it was when viewed 
as a bedroom. 

This particular portion of the Ellen Maria was 


66 TWO STOWAWAYS 

used only as a storeroom, and in it were to be 
found odds and ends of such description as would 
naturally accumulate on board a fishing vessel. 
The odor there was even worse than that in the 
hold, and Tommy’s heart sank very low in his 
bosom as he asked, while surveying the disagree- 
able quarters: 

“ Is your father willing you should sleep in a 
place like this? ” 

“ ’Cordin’ to what he said, I allow he is, an’ 
if you’d seen as many fishermen as I have, you’d 
say it might be a good deal worse. I never 
figgered on where you could sleep, when I was 
talkin’ with yer ’bout stowin’ away,” and Master 
Babbidge began to whistle cheerily, much as if the 
forepeak pleased him quite as well as did the cabin. 

“ There are a good many things you didn’t 
figure on,” Sam said meaningly, and Joe, under- 
standing what was in his friend’s mind, cried 
petulantly : 

“ If you’re goin’ to throw up this, that, an’ the- 
other jest ’cause things ain’t ’xactly to yer likin’, 
it’s time I give up tryin’ to make it easy for yer. 
Nobody ever said that the Ellen Maria was fixed 
up same’s the swell hotels you’ve been stoppin’ to, 
an’ the sooner you get down off your high horses, 
takin’ things the way you find ’em, an’ lookin’ 
pleasant ’bout it, the better we’ll get erlong.” 


THE CULPRITS 67 

Sam and Tommy looked at their companion in 
astonishment. It hardly seemed possible that this 
could be the same lad who had painted in such 
glowing colors the delights of life aboard a fish- 
ing vessel, and the fact that there was so great and 
sudden a change in him, gave them additional 
cause for fear as to the future. 


CHAPTER VII 
The Forepeak 

It may seem strange, out it is nevertheless true, 
that for the time being the disagreeable quarters 
to which they had been assigned affected the 
stowaways even more strongly than had any other 
incident or fact since the moment they the same 
as ran away from home, by leaving their parents 
secretly. 

The Ellen Maria, as viewed from the pier, at 
a time when the lads from Philadelphia had no 
idea that they might make a voyage in her, pre- 
sented such a neat, jaunty appearance that it 
seemed positive everything about her was as the 
most fastidious stowaway would have it. There- 
fore, when Master Babbidge’s “ guests ” entered 
the forepeak, with its ill-odors, knowing that in 
this disagreeable-looking, dismal place they were 
to spend their spare time while on board the 
schooner, all that had previously occurred was as 
nothing in comparison with what was evidently to 
come. 

“ I’d stifle if I was shut up in a hole like this! ” 
Sam cried after his surprise at the sudden change 
68 


THE FOREPEAK 69 

in Master Babbidge’s manner had in a certain de- 
gree subsided, and Joe said grimly: 

“ After the wind gets up I reckon you’d rather 
be shet in here than have the hatch open, for the 
Ellen Maria is a master hand at throwin’ water 
when there’s any kind of a sea on.” 

“ Do you mean to say that the wind isn’t up 
about as strong as possible at this very minute? ” 
Tommy asked in astonishment, and Master Bab- 
bidge replied, much as if it gave him positive 
pleasure to picture the future in the darkest pos- 
sible colors: 

“ Of course it ain’t; this is what father calls a 
‘slick little sailin’ breeze’; but jest you wait till 
things begin to hum, with the wind howlin’ an’ 
screechin’ through the riggih’ fit to pull the hair 
right off yer head, an’ then you’ll find the Ellen 
Maria! s nose buried so deep in the big waves that 
the for’ard part of her is under water pretty nigh 
all the time.” 

Tommy swallowed energetically, as if the big 
sob which interfered with his breathing had ac- 
tually filled his mouth to overflowing, and Sam 
struggled manfully to prevent the tears from run- 
ning over his eyelids, as he asked with a decided 
tremor in his tone : 

“ If we’ve got to stay here while we’re on board 
this — this — this vessel, what’ll we sleep on?” 


70 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ I reckon it’s a case of stowin’ this dunnage till 
we’ve rigged up what you might call a bed,” Mas- 
ter Babbidge replied in a matter-of-fact tone, as 
he set about the task, and the lads from Phila- 
delphia watched him without any very great 
amount of curiosity, as they asked themselves why 
they had been such simples as to ever have believed 
that there might be anything approaching sport in 
making a cruise aboard a fishing schooner. 

Meanwhile Captain Ben was wrestling with his 
task in the after cabin, and very difficult did he 
find it, for letter writing was to him the most 
arduous of labors and something to which he was 
least accustomed. 

However, after much expenditure of ink and a 
series of contortions such as would have put a pro- 
fessional acrobat to shame, he finally succeeded in 
setting down as many words as he believed would 
present the case briefly yet explicitly to the parents 
of the stowaways. This done, he went on deck 
with the ink-stained paper in his ink-stained fingers 
to read the proposed message to old Moses, who, 
as a matter of course, yet remained at the helm. 

“ Here’s what I’ve writ, Moses, an’ I’m askin’ 
your opinion on the same, not ’cause I believe 
you’re any better judge of sich matters than I am, 
but owin’ to the fact that two heads are better’n 
one, even if both of ’em are a good bit soft.” 


THE FOREPEAK 71 

Having thus apologized, as it were, because of 
seeming to ask advice from one of his crew, Cap- 
tain Ben read the following: 

“ Mr. Chesley or Mr. Harriman, 

“ Lafayette Hotel, 

“ Portland, Maine : 

“ Your boys stowed away on Ellen Maria. It’ll 
do ’em good to rough It till the Idee of runnin’ off 
has been knocked out’er their heads. Will deliver 
’em to Bar Harbor in about three weeks. 

“ Benjamin Babbidge.^' 

“ I reckon that sets the case out plain enough,” 
the captain said without waiting for an expression 
of opinion from the helmsman. “ It stands to rea- 
son I might’er said a good deal more; but what 
I’ve got there will cost me more money than I’m 
warranted In spendin’; but seeln’s how my Joe 
has likely had the biggest hand in their stowin’ 
away, I feel kind’er bound to do whatsomeYer is 
right an’ just towards the fathers of them mis- 
guided boys.” 

“ It seems to fill the bill,” Moses Salter said, 
hesitatingly, as If doubtful of his own judgment, 
“ an’ yet It ain’t a great deal, seeln’s how them 
men must be a jgood deal worked up over what’s 
happened.” 

“ I know It, Moses, I know It, but when you 


72 TWO STOWAWAYS 

come to figger in what it’ll cost to telegraph that 
much, I’m allowin’ they can afford to put up with 
it, seein’s how I’m payin’ the bills an’ havin’ the 
biggest end of the trouble.” 

“How’ll you send it off?” the sailor asked, 
without further attempt to criticise the message. 

“ We’ll run inter Boothbay, as I told you, ’long 
’bout midnight, an’ you can slip ashore quiet-like, 
for I’m not minded the stowaways shall know how 
I’ve fixed it. What I’m after is to give ’em sich 
a lesson that home’ll seem mighty good to ’em by 
the time this ’ere cruise is come to an end.” 

“ I’m allowin’ they’d give all their old boots to 
be with their folks this blessed ' minute. They 
wasn’t lookin’ any too cheerful when Joe took ’em 
for’ard.” 

“ That’s true enough, an’ yet a couple of days 
aboard won’t be as much medicine as they ought’er 
have. After they’ve bunked in the forepeak two 
or three weeks, an’ done their share of the rough 
work, they never’ll want to look a fish in the eye 
agin.” 

“ That wasn’t the way it worked on Joe.” 

“ My boy was brought up different from what 
they’ve been. You might say he was born for a 
fisherman, an’, besides, he didn’t have a silver 
spoon in his mouth when he came inter this world, 
which makes a good bit of difference. I’m al- 


THE FOREPEAK 73 

lowin’ that these lads never had to do so much as 
black their own boots, an’ waitin’ on a lot of 
gurry-soaked swabs like you an’ me is like to come 
mighty rough on ’em.” 

While Captain Ben and Moses Salter were thus, 
making plans for the lesson which they believed 
was needed, the lads from Philadelphia were 
making payment in grief and homesickness for the 
“ sport ” of stowing away on board the Ellen 
Maria, 

Master Babbidge, with an eye to his own com- 
fort, rather than from any very keen desire to 
cheer his guests, had stowed the odds and ends 
wdth which the forepeak was partially filled, until 
he had made what would, at a pinch, serve as a 
place in which to lie down. It was anything rather 
than an inviting bed to lads who were accustomed 
to homes of luxury, but the young fisherman pre- 
tended if, indeed, he did not really believe, that it 
was all one should desire under the circumstances. 

“ I’d like to see you fellers rig up anythin’ as 
snug as this ! ” he said, stretching himself at full 
length on the hillocks of canvas, cordage and trawl 
tubs as if he found the collection most rest-inviting. 
“ We’ll bunk in here like bugs in a rug, no matter 
what weather the Ellen Maria makes of it, for 
once the hatch is on she can go clean under without 
sendin’ any water in here.” 


74 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ It will be black dark when you put the cover 
on that hole,” Sam said with a quick indrawing 
of the breath as he glanced up at the small 
hatchway. 

“ Of course it will; that makes it all the snug- 
ger,” Master Babbidge replied in a tone of 
satisfaction. 

“ But how can we breathe when the place is 
shut up so tightly? ” Tommy asked with what was 
very like a wail of fear. 

‘‘ Don’t bother your heads ’bout anythin’ like 
that. This goes way ahead of the hold, an’ I’m 
tellin’ you we’re mighty lucky to get off so easy. 
There was one spell when I allowed father was 
goin’ to cut up rough ’cause you’d come aboard.” 

“Yet you believed, when we were in Portland, 
that he would be glad to see us,” Sam suggested 
reproachfully. 

“ Now look here, you fellers,” and Master Bab- 
bidge spoke very sharply. “ I’m gettin’ tired of 
bearin’ ’bout what I said or did, an’ don’t allow 
to stand it any longer. There wasn’t any tow-line 
hitched to yer when we was in port, so you didn’t 
really need to stow away. You’re here now, 
though, an’ the sooner you get through tryin’ to 
make out that it’s all my fault, the plainer sailin’ 
it’ll be. Take my advice, an’ make the best of 
what can’t be helped, since father has made up 


THE FOREPEAK 75 

his mind that he won’t put back to send you 
ashore.” 

Then Master Babbidge closed his eyes as if 
sleep had overpowered him, and the stowaways 
stood in silence and deepest sorrow, gazing at 
each other as if asking how it could have been pos- 
sible that they had shown themselves to be such 
idiots, until a shadow fell across the hatchway, 
and the voice of Moses Salter was heard : 

“ Grub is ready for the second half, an’ I’m 
reckonin’ you belong in that watch. Better tum- 
ble up if you count on fillin’ yer innerds, for it 
don’t stand to reason the cook’ll wait very long 
for sich useless lumber as you lads.” 

“ We don’t want anything to eat,” Tommy said 
with an inward shudder as he glanced toward his 
cousin, who looked very much as if the mere men- 
tion of food had made him ill. “ Can you tell us, 
sir, how long a voyage this vessel is likely to 
make? ” 

“ Wa’al, that’s as may be, lads,” Moses replied 
thoughtfully, as if trying to decide the question 
in his Own mind. “ If luck is with us, so that we 
fill up as quick as hands can do it, we ought’er be 
bound for port in about three weeks, pervidin’ this 
’ere wind holds till we make the banks; but if so 
be the fish don’t take hold lively, then you can 
count on our bein’ out four or five weeks.” 


76 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ Four or five weeks ! ” Sam cried in dismay, 
turning toward Master Babbidge as if to ask 
whether he reconciled that statement with the one 
he had made at Portland, and then added angrily, 
“ I won’t stay so long! Tommy and I must be in 
Bar Harbor before Saturday I ” 

“ P’rhaps you kin tell me how you’re goin’ 
to make that port, my son, seein’s how we’re 
headed for the banks, with the old hooker goin’ 
free?” 

“Why couldn’t the captain put us. aboard the 
next vessel we meet? We’ve got nearly five dol- 
lars between us, and we’ll willingly give that much 
to get ashore at some place where he can telegraph 
to our fathers.” 

“ If Cap’in Ben is willin’ to heave to for the 
next craft which he sights, which I misdoubt, you 
mightn’t be any better off, ’cause there’s no 
knowin’ where she’d be bound. It strikes me that 
you’re booked to stay here till we take a full fare, 
an’ it stands you in hand to get Inter gear for 
what’s before yer, instead of whinin’ over what 
you brought on yourselves.” 

Old Moses was beginning to feel a certain sym- 
pathy for the lads whose distress of mind could be 
read so plainly on their faces; but yet he believed 
they should manfully bear the burden voluntarily 
taken upon themselves, yet a while longer, and. 


THE FOREPEAK 77 

therefore, with assumed harshness, he took leave 
of them by saying: 

“ I reckon it won’t make any great difference 
to the cap’in an’ crew of this ’ere schooner whether 
you get your share of the grub or not; but I’m 
givin’ fair warnin’ that you’ll come aft now, or 
go without till mornin’.” 

Until this moment Master Babbidge had re- 
mained as if wrapped in slumber, but probably 
listening to the conversation, and now he sprang 
up quickly, saying as he scrambled through the 
hatchway : 

“ Come on, fellers I There’s no use gettin’ an 
edge on jest ’cause things ain’t goin’ to suit yer. 
Aboard the Ellen Maria it’s a case of gettin’ grub 
when there’s a chance, an’ I don’t stand willin’ to 
miss my feed.” 

“Do you want to go with him?” and Sam 
turned to face his cousin. 

“ Indeed I don’t! ” was the emphatic reply. “ I 
couldn’t swallow a mouthful to save my life I Oh, 
Sam I Sam ! What fools we’ve made of ourselves 1 
Think of coming into such a horrible place as this, 
when we might have staid where we belonged 1 ” 

It was as if only these words were needed to 
plunge Master Chesley into the lowest depths of 
despair, and, flinging himself face downward upon 
the lumpy “ bed ” Joe had made, he gave full 


78 TWO STOWAWAYS 

sway to his grief, Tommy joining him after strug- 
gling a few seconds against the overwhelming 
sorrow. 

There in the place of foul odors, flung violently 
from side to side as the schooner rose or fell on 
the increasing swell, the two lads who had stowed 
away in order to enjoy the supposed pleasures of 
a fishing cruise, wept bitter, scalding tears, while 
Master Babbidge, who had painted in such allur- 
ing colors the delights of a life on board the Ellen 
Maria, gorged himself aft with fried mackerel, 
giving little or no heed to the words of reproof 
which his father bestowed upon him from time to 
time. 

The lads from Philadelphia, exhausted by their 
violent grief, were asleep when finally Joe rejoined 
them, and, fortunately for their further peace of 
mind, were all unconscious that the hatch had 
been set in place lest the spray, which by this time, 
was coming over the bow in showers, should liter- 
ally drown them out. 

And Master Babbidge, like his guests, was 
ignorant of the fact that shortly before midnight 
the Ellen Maria made her way into the harbor of 
Boothbay, to encounter the foam-crested waves 
again as soon as Moses Salter had paid a visit to 
the little town in order to arouse a sleeping tele- 
graph operator. 


CHAPTER VIII 
The Telegram 

When the Ellen Maria was hove to just off 
Boothbay harbor, for Captain Ben did not think it 
worth while to cast anchor during such short time 
as would be required in which to transact the nec- 
essary business, Moses Salter made ready one of 
the dories in order to go ashore, performing the 
work with the utmost precaution lest the boys be 
awakened, and thus made aware of the scheme on 
foot to save the fathers of the stowaways any 
further anxiety. 

“Who’ll you take with you, Moses?” Captain 
Ben asked after the schooner had been hauled 
around, and the helm lashed that she might be 
held as steady as the wind would permit. 

“ I reckon I hain’t forgot how to pull a dory, 
Ben Babbidge,” the old man replied testily, as 
if fancying the master of the Ellen Maria ques- 
tioned his ability. 

“ I didn’t allow anythin’ of the kind, you techy 
old stickleback; but it’s a stiffish pull in there, with 
the wind headin’ you pretty nigh all the way.” 

“ What I’ve done before I kin do agin,” was 
79 


8o TWO STOWAWAYS 

the dogged reply as the oars were laid gently 
across the thwart. “ What’s the sense in callin’ 
all hands jest to send that ’ere little message over 
the telegraph wires? If so be there’s anybody 
ashore to ’tend to business, I reckon I’ll be able 
to work the traverse before you’d have time to 
pry open the eyes of them dandy fishermen that 
you think are so smart jest ’cause they happen to 
be a bit younger than some folks.” 

“ Have it your own way, Moses, have it your 
own way, if it’s any pleasanter or easier pullin’ 
three or four miles alone,” Captain Ben said with 
a subdued laugh. “ Will it go so terribly hard 
agin the grain if I turn over a leetle cash, so’s you 
can pay for havin’ the job done? ” 

“ I generally count on havin’ some spare money 
on hand, seein’s how I hain’t overly given to 
squanderin’ it ashore whenever we make port, an’ 
we can square accounts after I get back,” Moses 
replied in a tone of irritation, and an instant 
later he had clambered over the rail, disappearing 
in the darkness almost as soon as Captain Ben 
had cast off the boat’s painter. 

“ A good hand, an’ a A-i fisherman, is Moses 
Salter,” the master of the Ellen Maria said to him- 
self as he looked about him to make certain the 
schooner was riding as she should. “ It’s a pity 
that he’s quite so techy erbout his age. I allow he 


THE TELEGRAM 8i 

can work the legs off of men that haven’t seen half 
his years, an’ never turn a hair doin’ of it.” 

Then Captain Ben went below to “ mug up,” 
which is a fisherman’s term for drinking a cup of 
coffee, a huge pot of which is ever to be found 
on the stove of a well-provisioned “ banker.” 

Moses Salter heeded the darkness no more than 
he did the wind which came and went in gusts, as 
if bent on blowing itself into a regular gale be- 
fore morning. There was in his heart a certain 
sense of injury because Captain Ben had much 
the same as intimated that he needed some one to 
aid him at the oars, and in his mind a desire to 
bring his errand to the speediest possible end, that 
the skipper of the Ellen Maria might see whether 
or no his strength or wits were failing. 

In addition to the desire to make a speedy trip, 
was the belief that the message penned by Cap- 
tain Ben must be forwarded at all hazards, al- 
though at the moment he had no idea that there 
might be any delay in transacting his business. 

When he had made his boat fast to the pier, 
however, and stood looking in vain for a light, it 
occurred to him for the first time that the tele- 
graph operator at Boothbay might not consider it 
necessary to remain at his post of duty all the 
hours of darkness, when other people in the town 
were supposed to be in bed. 


82 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ I sure am gettin’ forgetful as I grow older,” 
he muttered impatiently. “ The biggest fool that 
ever lived would have had sense enough to ask for 
the bearin’s of this ’ere telegraph office, an’ yet 
I come ashore as if I knew it all, when I never 
set foot in the town before I ” 

Then Moses walked rapidly up the pier, and 
along the first street' at hand, until arriving in 
front of what was apparently a dwelling. Here 
he pounded vigorously on the door as if it was his 
intention to batter it down, until an upper window 
was raised, and an angry voice cried: 

“ What’s wanted down there ? ” 

“ I’m after the telegraph man, an’ hain’t got a 
great deal more time to squander on the job,” 
Moses replied, in a tone which indicated that he 
had none too much control over his temper. 

“ Wa’al, get after him then, an’ don’t be raisin’ 
a row ’round here! ” 

“Where is he?” 

“ Home, I reckon, where you ought’er be.” 

“ Hark ye, mate 1 I’m a peaceful, law-abidin’ 
man; but if you try to be funny with me, an’ Cap- 
tain Ben wonderin’ if I’m never cornin’ back, 
there’ll be trouble in this ’ere town an’ you’ll be 
in the thick of it sure I ” 

“ For two cents I’ll go down there an’ punch 
your head!” 


THE TELEGRAM 83 

“ An’ I’ll come up an’ punch yours without 
waitin’ for even so much as one cent, if you don’t 
tell me where the telegraph man is ! ” 

“ He boards at the hotel, you old fool ! ” 

“ An’ where’s that, Mr. Freshfield? ” asked Mr. 
Salter. 

“ Second corner, an’ go up the hill.” 

The window was closed with a bang almost be- 
fore this information had been given, and Moses 
started off in the direction indicated, muttering 
to himself: 

“ If I’m ever fool enough to come ashore here 
agin. I’ll look you up, you shore-goin’ swab, an’ 
show you how to talk to a decent man what’s in a 
hurry.” 

Fortunately for the other citizens, Moses 
found the hotel after walking rapidly five minutes 
or more, but it was closed, with never a light in 
any of the windows. Using a small rock, in order 
to save his knuckles, the old fisherman announced 
his presence in such a demonstrative manner that 
within a very few seconds a sleepy porter opened 
the front door, as he stood partially screened be- 
hind it because of his scanty garments. 

“ I’m after the telegraph man, an’ I want him 
quick! ” Moses said peremptorily, entering the 
hallway lest the porter, after gathering his wits, 
should attempt to bar his passage. 


84 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“He’s up in Number Ten; but he don’t ’tend 
to business at this time of night.” 

“Where’s Number Ten?” 

“ Up two flights — right at the top. It won’t 
do any good to go there, I tell yer, ’cause he’s off 
duty at eight o’clock.” 

“ He’ll come on agin, or I’ll know the reason 
why,” and Mr. Salter ran upstairs as rapidly as 
the youngest member of the Ellen Marians crew 
could have done. 

Less than a minute later the “ telegraph man ” 
was brought very suddenly to a sitting posture 
in bed, as a heavy hand was dropped upon his 
face, and a hoarse voice cried in a note of thun- 
der: 

“ I’m wantin’ you to send a message to Portland 
quick. Get inter yer clothes, an’ I’ll go with you 
to see that it’s done.” 

“ Office is closed at eight o’clock. I’ll see you 
in the mornin’, an’ the quicker you get out of this 
room the better I’ll be pleased,” the young man 
said curtly, and he would have composed himself 
to sleep once more, but for the fact that Mr. Sal- 
ter literally dragged him out of the bed. 

“ See here, mister, I’ve got to send word to 
Portland mighty quick, ’cause it don’t stand to 
reason we can keep the Ellen Marta off this for- 
gotten town while the wind is breezin’ up. This 


THE TELEGRAM 85 

is a case where you open the office after hours, or 
I’ll have to do it for yer.” 

“ It must be mighty important,” the telegraph 
operator grumbled, but so decidedly had Mr. Sal- 
ter spoken that he began to dress himself without 
further parley, although the porter of the hotel 
would have been willing to wager considerably 
more than an ordinary amount of money, that even 
the president of the Western Union Company 
could not have persuaded Reginald Smith to open 
his office at any time between eight o’clock in the 
evening, and the same hour next morning. 

“Important? Do you think we’d heave the 
Ellen Maria to on a night like this if it wasn’t 
somethin’ that had to be done? Seems to me 
you’re mighty slow ’bout gettin’ inter them few 
duds.” 

Mr. Reginald Smith might possibly have made 
an angry reply, for it surely seemed to him as if 
he was doing for the stranger much more than was 
demanded by the company that employed him, 
but before he could open his mouth Moses had 
dragged him into the hallway, saying as he did 
so: 

“ You can save a heap of time, young man, by 
gettin’ inter rig as we go along. Where’s the 
place you keep the telegraph things?” 

“ In the second buildin’ from here,” was the 


86 TWO STOWAWAYS 

meek reply, and from the tone one could have 
guessed that the employee of the telegraph com- 
pany was dazed, if not actually bewildered. 

Moses forced him forward at a rapid pace, and 
when the door of the “ second building ” had 
been unlocked, the young gentleman was thrust 
inside with such force that he came in violent con- 
tact with the desk. 

It was Moses who lighted the lamp, and as 
Reginald Smith sank into a chair in front of the 
telegraph instrument, the old sailor spread out be- 
fore him the paper which had cost Captain Ben 
so much labor to stain with ink. 

“You want’er send that jest the quickest you 
know how, ^cause I’m bound to stay here till it’s 
gone, an’ if I hang ’round a great spell longer, 
Cap’in Ben’ll be cornin’ ashore to find out what’s 
doin’.” 

“ Did you rout me out of bed to send a message 
that could just as well have been attended to in the 
mornin’, seein’s it won’t be delivered till then?” 
Mr. Smith cried after reading what had been 
written, his anger becoming stronger than his fear 
and bewilderment. 

“ Them as are in Portland will have to answer 
for it if them words ain’t shoved through after 
they get there, an’ it’s up to you to start ’em off 
lively! ” 


THE TELEGRAM 87 

Moses looked and spoke like a man whom it 
would not be pleasant to offend, and without fur- 
ther parley Mr. Smith set about the task, saying 
a few moments later, when he had finished clicking 
the key: 

“ Another time a man tries to turn me out In 
the night. I’ll know whether his message is im- 
portant before I get up from my bed.” 

“ We won’t argify now that the thing is done,” 
Moses said in a tone of satisfaction. “ Erbout 
how much money do you think that job is worth? ” 

“ The regular tariff makes it ninety cents, an’ 
seein’s I’m workin’ overtime^ we’ll call it two 
dollars.” 

“Two what?” Mr. Salter cried angrily, and 
then, as if suddenly realizing the situation, he 
counted carefully a number of small coins, saying 
as he laid several in front of Reginald Smith: 

“ Here’s ninety cents, an’ ’cordin’ to your fig- 
gerin’ it’s all that’s cornin’ to you honestly. If 
you don’t have nothin’ more to do than jerk that 
little handle up an’ down, it can’t make any great 
difference if you do lose a little sleep now an’ 
then.” 

Having said this, Mr. Salter went hurriedly out 
of the office, and, once in the street, walked very 
rapidly toward the pier. 

Hardly more than half an hour had elapsed 


88 TWO STOWAWAYS 

from the time of beginning the return voyage, 
when he was alongside the Ellen Maria once more, 
and Captain Ben, who had remained alone on the 
lookout, said in a tone of surprise: 

“ I declare for it, Moses, it don’t seem as if 
you’d had time to pull ashore, let alone goin’ there 
an’ back! You must have stirred the folks up 
some considerable, to be through with the job so 
soon.” 

“ I did wrastle ’em jest a bit, ’cause I knowed 
we couldn’t afford to be foolin’ ’round Boothbay 
with a wind like this.” 

“ I happened to think, after you had gone, that 
perhaps the telegraph man wouldn’t be doin’ 
business as late as this.” 

“ He wasn’t; but I kind’er showed him that he 
had a call to do a job jest at that time, an’ he 
seemed to allow I was in the right. If you’ve 
got younger men aboard what could’er done it in 
better time. I’d like to have you call ’em on deck, 
for sendin’ things by telegraph ain’t as plain 
sailin’ as it looks to be from a distance.” 

Then Mr. Salter unlashed the helm and other- 
wise made ready to put the Ellen Maria on her 
course again, while Captain Ben went well for- 
ward where he could indulge in noisy mirth with- 
out danger of being overheard by the old sailor. 

When the occupants of the forepeak awakened 


THE TELEGRAM 89 

to a knowledge of their suroundings next morn- 
ing, two of them were convinced that the plung- 
ing of the Ellen Maria during the first three or 
four hours after leaving port was positively pleas- 
ing in comparison with what it was possible for 
her to do. 

She was leaping about so wildly that to remain 
in the “ snug bed ” which Master Babbidge had 
made, was absolutely impossible, save by holding 
on to the edges of the trawl tubs, and this required 
most severe labor. 

“What Is the matter?” Sam asked fearfully, 
as he clung for dear life to his cousin’s neck. “ Is 
she going to wreck herself? ” 

“ Wreck nothin’ ! ” Master Babbidge cried 
with a laugh. “ The wind has freshened, that’s 
all, an’ we’re stormin’ along towards the banks — 
eatin’ up the miles, as father puts It.” 

“ It must be a terrible storm ! ” Tommy moaned, 
and at the same time wondered why he failed to 
suffer from the nausea which had assailed him 
when the voyage was first begun. 

“ This ain’t nothin’ to what It would be If there 
was a gale of wind,” Master Babbidge said with a 
laugh which, to his guests, sounded very disagree- 
ably. “ Wait till we get one, an’ then you’ll think 
this Is the same as if the Ellen Maria was at the 
dock.” 


90 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ If you’re tellin’ the truth, neither Sam nor I 
will be alive when this miserable vessel gets to Bar 
Harbor, for it seems certain I’m dying already! ” 
and Tommy gave no heed to the fact that the big 
tears were rolling down his cheeks. 


CHAPTER IX 
Sea Legs 


As a matter of course, it was impossible for the 
stowaways to distinguish objects around them; 
the forepeak was as “ dark as a pocket,” and this 
fact served to make It seem as If the schooner was 
tumbling about even more violently than really 
was the case. 

“ I’m just stifling to death,” Tommy moaned, 
speaking indistinctly, as If he had difficulty In 
drawing a long breath. “ If we could see things 
it wouldn’t be quite so bad; but to be shut In here 
where it Is thick darkness, and then knocked 
around In such a manner. Is terrible ! ” 

“ Better have It dark than wet,” Master Bab- 
bldge said In a tone of content, and Sam asked 
petulantly : 

“ What do you mean by that? ” 

“ Why, s’posin’ the hatch was off, what do you 
think would happen? I reckon the Ellen Maria Is 
throwin’ spray fit to smother a man, an’ It wouldn’t 
be many minutes before we’d get drowned out.” 

“ Have we got to stay here till the storm clears 
away? ” and there was a decided tremor of grief 
and fear In Sam’s voice as he asked the question. 

91 


92 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ Don’t I tell you it ain’t a storm? The wind 
is blowin’ fresh, jest as father predicted, that’s 
all. They won’t leave us here a great while after 
breakfast is ready, an’ somebody will be ’round to 
snake us out when the time comes right.” 

“ We’ll be dead if they don’t come quickly,” 
Tommy moaned, and Master Babbidge laughed 
in what, as it appeared to his “ guests,” was a 
most disagreeable and unsympathetic manner. 

“I’ll risk that part of it! Wait till the cook 
sings out that he’s ready for the second half, an’ 
you’ll be crawlin’ ’round mighty lively, no matter 
how much the Ellen Maria kicks about.” 

“ I couldn’t eat anything if I was starving to 
death! ” Sam said in a tone of conviction. “ If 
it should happen that we live to get on shore again, 
you can set it down as a fact that the fellow isn’t 
living who can persuade me to stow away on the 
best vessel that ever floated!” 

“ Seems to me you Philadelphy fellers haven’t 
got a great deal of sand,” Joe said in a tone of 
disdain. “ There hasn’t been a chance yet to find 
out what fishin’ on the banks is like, an’ yet you’re 
cryin’ to get home before we’ve been out twenty- 
four hours.” 

“ And that is just twenty-four hours too much,” 
Tommy cried sharply. “ We deserve the sound- 
est flogging boys ever got for running away from 


SEA LEGS 93 

our parents, and I hope my father will give me 
all that is coming my way, if I’m alive when he 
sees me again ! ” 

“ You may get a taste of a rope’s end while 
you’re aboard the Ellen Maria, if you don’t duff 
inter the work ’cordin’ to father’s way of thinkin’, 
for he don’t allow any sogerin when fishin’ sets 
in lively,” and Master Babbidge spoke as if it 
would please him to see the stowaways flogged, 
because of the fact that they were, from his 
point of view, showing themselves to be chicken- 
hearted. 

“ He’d better not try to be funny with us, for 
we won’t stand it! ” and now Sam was so angry 
that for the moment he gave no heed to the wild 
plunging of the schooner. “ We didn’t come 
aboard to be knocked around by your father when- 
ever he took a fancy to flog somebody! ” 

“ You’ll find that he won’t make much allow- 
ance for what you think ’bout it,” and Joe’s tone 
was really threatening. “ Cap’ins of vessels do 
pretty nigh what they want’er at sea, as you’ll 
find out if you don’t walk a chalk-line.” 

It surely seemed to the lads from Philadelphia 
as if nothing more than this was needed to over- 
run their cup of sorrow. That the boy who had 
held out such golden promises in order to persuade 
them to stow away, should presume to threaten 


94 TWO STOWAWAYS 

when they were so helpless and ill, was to their 
minds the acme of cruelty, and but for the over- 
powering sense of utter helplessness they would 
have given Master Babbidge a dose similar to that 
which he threatened should be dealt out by his 
father. 

It is impossible to say just what might have 
happened, so strained were their relations, if the 
three boys had been left in the forepeak many 
moments longer; but, fortunately, just then Moses 
Salter interfered to effect a change which, after a 
time, proved to be decidedly for the better. 

A cry of relief burst from Tommy’s lips when 
suddenly the hatch was lifted, and he heeded not 
the flood of water which came below at the same 
time, as he sprang toward the opening, doing so, 
unluckily, at the very moment when the Ellen 
Maria upraised herself on a heavy sea, throwing 
him back against the bulkhead with such force as 
caused a scream of pain. 

“Ain’t jest got yer sea-legs on yet, eh?” Mr. 
Salter said with a laugh, as he lowered himself 
into the forepeak with the water dripping from 
his oilskins in tiny streams. “ Lots of fun runnin’ 
away from home to try yer hands at bein’ fisher- 
men, eh? ” 

“ Is there any chance we can go ashore, or get 
on board a vessel bound for Portland?” Sam 



"AIN'T GOT YER SEA-LEGS ON YET, EH?'‘ 








\ f 



SEA LEGS 95 

asked eagerly, as he aided his cousin to his feet 
once more. 

“ Not the least little bit of a show, seein’s we’re 
well on to the banks, an’ ’less one of them big 
ocean steamboats comes stormin’ erlong takin’ the 
chances of runnin’ down honest fishermen without 
givin’ any great heed to what’s in the way, you 
ain’t likely to see a craft bound in till the Ellen 
Maria has got a full fare aboard. The second 
half’s been called for grub, an’ you two lads 
must be mighty empty in the stomach by this 
time.” 

Master Babbidge did not wait to be urged, but 
scrambled out of the forepeak as if there was im- 
minent danger of his starving to death before he 
could gain the cabin, and Tommy said in a tear- 
ful voice: 

“We don’t want anything to eat, sir, and it 
doesn’t seem to me as if I’d ever need food again.” 

“That’s where you’re talkin’ nonsense, lad!” 
and Mr. Salter spoke sternly. “ Because you’ve 
been sich fools as to run away from home, is no 
reason why you should keep on tryin’ to show that 
you’re the biggest kind of idjuts. You’re aboard 
the Ellen Maria, havin’ stowed away of your own 
free will, an’ now it stands you in hand to show 
that you’re somethin’ more’n babies. When you 
get inter a tight place, the manly way is to make 


96 TWO STOWAWAYS 

the best of it, an’ put yer best foot for’ard, which 
Is to be done by gettin’ inter gear as quick as you 
kno\y how. Follow me, an’ make up yer minds 
to take what’s cornin’ your way. Them as grin 
an’ look pleasant get erlong in this world a great 
deal better than them what sulk.” 

Then, without further argument, Mr. Salter 
lifted the stowaways up through the hatchway, 
and it was as if they were no more than on deck 
before a green wave, coming over the bow, 
drenched them thoroughly. 

Sam threw himself at full length on the deck, 
fearing lest he should be washed overboard, but 
Mr. Salter pulled him upright by the collar of 
his coat, saying as he balanced him on his feet: 

‘‘ The first thing is to get yer sea-legs on, an’ 
that can’t be done if you go flounderin’ ’round like 
this. It ain’t much of a knack to keep yer feet 
when the old hooker is wallowin’ a bit, an’ after 
that’s been done you’ve gone a long ways toward 
bein’ a fisherman.” 

“ We’ve got through wanting to be fishermen,” 
Tommy said with a sob, but at the same time he 
followed the old sailor’s advice to the best of his 
ability, finding that it was not such a difficult mat- 
ter to hold his balance against the motion of the 
schooner. 

“I’m allowin’ you have; but seein’s how you 


SEA LEGS 97 

took so much trouble to make this ’ere voyage, 
you can’t get out of seein’ it through. Never mind 
the water, for it ain’t the first time you’ll be soaked 
before you see Bar Harbor, an’ you may as well 
get used to it Now you’re goin’ aft with me, an’ 
stow in a cargo of grub, for that’s what’s most 
needed by both. With a good square feed, things 
will begin to look different, though I ain’t al- 
lowin’ you’re in the way of gettin’ any great lot 
of fun aboard a fishin’ schooner, no matter what 
kind of weather we have.” 

Although the lads from Philadelphia had 
shown themselves to be very foolish, by stowing 
away aboard the Ellen Maria, they were by no 
means devoid of sound sense, and the words of the 
old sailor brought them to their senses more 
quickly than if they had been better chosen. With- 
out reply they followed him aft, looking shame- 
facedly at the members of the crew who were on 
deck, and this slight effort toward aiding them- 
selves did a world of good. 

Even though the wind was blowing very 
strongly, and the green, foam-crested waves curl- 
ing around the schooner angrily, the sun shone 
brightly, and there was that in the saltiness which 
brought a sense of greatest relief after the night 
spent in the stuffy forepeak, which had seemingly 
been thick with foul air. It surprised them both, 


98 TWO STOWAWAYS 

when they realized that the odor of food which 
came from the cabin, was most appetizing, and 
very willingly they followed Mr. Salter down the 
narrow companion-way. 

Master Babbidge was already at table, eating 
greedily as if having been deprived of food for 
many days, and did not so much as look toward 
them when his “ guests ” stumbled down the stairs, 
bringing up against the table with a force tha'f 
nearly unseated one man. 

“ I didn’t mean to hit you, sir, and I am sorry,” 
Tommy said in an apologetic tone, and the young 
sailor laughed heartily as he replied : 

“ We don’t make any great ’count of sich 
things before a lad gets his sea-legs on; but you’ll 
have to look sharp after you’ve been aboard a 
couple of days.” 

To boys not accustomed to such things, the table 
in the cabin of the Ellen Maria was most unin- 
viting. The dishes were tin, the knives and forks 
iron, and the cloth conspicuous only by its ab- 
sence. Everything looked positively unclean, and 
yet so great was the hunger which assailed them 
that they gave but little heed to what, under other 
circumstances, would have taken away all desire 
for food. 

The hot biscuit were light and white, but would 
have been more palatable spread with butter in- 


SEA LEGS 99 

stead of being covered with fat from fried salt 
pork; yet they ate them ravenously, as they did 
the fried mackerel, browned to a turn. 

Moses Salter helped them liberally to whatever 
was on the table, and as they ate, drinking huge 
mugs of steaming, delicious coffee, the situation 
changed decidedly for the better. Joe was in a 
more amiable frame of mind as the meal pro- 
gressed, and before it had come to an end appeared 
as friendly as when he urged them so strongly 
to make a voyage in the Ellen Maria. 

Moses Salter, having already given the stow- 
aways such advice as he believed they needed, re- 
mained silent, occupying himself wholly with the 
food; but he watched the lads keenly, seeming to 
be pleased when their faces grew brighter. 

“ When will we be on the banks, Abe? ” Mas- 
ter Babbidge asked of the cook, after he found 
it absolutely impossible to eat another mouthful. 

“ The cap’in allowed we’d have the first lines 
over ’long ’bout noon, an’ I reckon he ain’t far 
out’er the way. We’ve had what you might call 
a quick run, an’ if luck holds with us as it has be- 
gun, this ought’er be a good trip.” 

“Do you fish over the side of the vessel?” 
Tommy asked of Moses Salter, whom he had be- 
gun to look upon as his best friend aboard. 

“ We do till we’ve found the right spot, an’ 


100 TWO STOWAWAYS 

then it’s a case of settin’ the trawls, but seein’s how 
you an’ your mate ain’t what might be called first- 
class hands, I reckon Cap’in Ben won’t call on you 
for any dory work this trip. P’rhaps if you 
make up your minds to stay ’board the rest of the 
season, you’ll get inter shape to bear a hand with 
the rest of us.” 

“ I’m thinking one voyage will satisfy us,” Sam 
replied in such a cheerful tone that both Tommy 
and Joe looked at him in astonishment, and Mr, 
Salter nodded his head approvingly, as if to say 
that he was beginning to show the proper spirit. 

It would really surprise any one if an attempt 
was made at telling how much these homesick 
stowaways ate during their first meal aboard the 
Ellen Maria, Their appetites were so keen, de- 
spite the sorrow and repentance which filled their 
hearts, that the cook said when he brought a fresh 
supply of biscuit : 

“ If you lads stay aboard any length of time, 
I’m allowin’ we’ll have to make port to lay in 
more grub ; but don’t think I’m findin’ fault, 
’cause it does me good to see a boy fill hisself up 
in good shape.” 

When the meal was finally at an end Master 
Babbidge invited his “ guests ” on deck, and as 
they made their appearance in the open air Cap- 
tain Ben cried so cheerily that it seemed to Tommy 


SEA LEGS 10 1 

as if a great change must have come over him since 
the day previous : 

“ Filled up in good shape, eh? Ready for 
work, I’m allowin’, for them as come aboard a 
fisherman must pay their footin’, so turn to with 
Joe an’ get the deck in shape for what’ll soon be 
before us, if so be I haven’t forgot where the fish 
are schoolin’.” 

“ He means that we’ll soon be on the fishin’ 
grounds, an’ it’s for us to clear up a bit,” Master 
Babbidge whispered, and the stowaways set about 
the task by .following the example of the lad who 
had induced them to embark in what was neither 
more nor less than a dishonest fashion. 

“ You’ve found your sea-legs all right,” Moses 
Salter said in a tone of approval, as the two lads 
ran here and there without being greatly incom- 
moded by the movements of the vessel. “ I 
reckon there’s a bit more dirt to the work than 
you’ve been used to, but it won’t hurt any, an* 
with plenty for your hands to do there won’t be 
so much chance to think of them as you ran away 
from.” 

Half an hour later the schooner was hove to; 
the crew got the lines over the rail, and in a 
twinkling the drumming of the first fish taken 
told that the work of putting a full fare aboard 
had begun. 


% 


CHAPTER X 
Dressing-down 

During at least ten minutes Tommy and Sam 
could do little more than stand in open-mouthed 
astonishment, watching the fishermen haul big 
cod or haddock over the rail, throwing them at 
random on the deck with a business-like air which 
told that they did not look upon fishing as any- 
thing other than hard work. To them there were 
no elements of sport in it, for to haul in a two- 
pound weight of lead at the end of a very long, 
stout line, required no slight amount of labor, 
more particularly when a twenty-pound fish had 
the hook in his mouth. 

To the lads from Philadelphia it seemed as if 
the schooner’s deck was covered thickly with flap- 
ping, squirming fish before the men had fairly got 
to work. Never before had they bdieved there 
could be so many at any one place in the sea, and 
Tommy said with a gasp of astonishment, as he 
steadied himself by the foremast against the roll- 
ing of the vessel : Ilk 

“ They won’t keep at that kind of work very 
102 


DRESSING-DOWN 103 

long before the schooner will be filled to running 
over.” 

“ You’ll find that a mighty big lot can be 
stowed below,” Master Babbidge said with an air 
of exceeding wisdom. “ Wait till they’re all 
dressed-down, an’ then you’ll see that they pack 
up considerlible small.” 

“What do you mean by ‘dressed-down’?” 
Tommy asked. 

“ Say, you didn’t think we carried ’em to port 
jest as they came over the rail, did yer? Every 
one of them blessed fish have got to be split, 
cleaned an’ salted, else they’d spile mighty quick, 
an’ after they’re flattened out you’ll find that they 
make snug stowin’.” 

“Who dresses them down?” 

“ All hands, an’ that’s where part of your work 
will come in. After a spell the splittin’ tables will 
be set up, when it’s a case of us three standin’ by 
to pass fish to them as are splittin’, an’ if you think 
that ain’t the hardest kind of hard work, then 
you’ve got somethin’ to learn. I’ve stood on this 
very deck, when the trawlin’ was good an’ every 
boat cornin’ in loaded to the gun’nle, passin’ to 
Moses Salter, who’s the boss hand at dressin’- 
down, till it seemed as if I’d never get my back 
straight again.” 

“ Is there much of that kind of work to be 


104 TWO STOWAWAYS 

done?” Sam asked, thi^fig at the same time 
that taking fish from the deck and placing them 
on a table could not be exceedingly laborious. 

“ If we have good luck — an’ father knows 
where to strike fish hetter’n any other man that 
comes on the banks — it’ll be a case of humpin’ to 
it the biggest part of every night. Gee ! but how 
sleepy you get, an’ it seems sometimes as if the 
fish hatched out while they’re layin’ right here on 
the deck!” 

“ If the men work in the night and fish In the 
daytime, when do they sleep?” Sam asked, his 
eyes opening wide as he began to understand that 
there were kinds of fishing which were not carried 
on simply for sport. 

“ They have to ketch chances whenever they 
can. We don’t stay In one place only while the 
fish are bItIn’ sharp, an’ when the Ellen Marta 
shifts ground, pretty near all hands turn in for a 
snooze. Then agin, whenever It storms so hard 
that you can’t run trawls. It’s a case of layin’ still, 
an’ that’s the time when the men bottle up what 
sleep they can. You mustn’t get it Inter your head 
that much of this sort’er work Is done,” and Mas- 
ter Babbldge waved his hand toward the men who 
lined the rails. “ When father Is satisfied that 
we’ve struck ’bout the right spot, over’ll go the 
dories, an’ the trawls will be set. 


DRESSING-DOWN 105 

“What’s a trawl?” Tommy asked. 

“ A long line — a mile long, p’raps, with hooks 
tied to it fifteen or eighteen inches apart. Every 
hook has to be baited, an’ don’t you think that’s 
any slouch of a job. Then the whole thing is 
stretched out in the water, with a lot of small 
buoys to keep it afloat.” 

“ I should think the line would get all snarled 
up when they haul it aboard,” Sam said thought- 
fully, and Master Babbidge appeared to think the 
suggestion very funny, for he laughed loud and 
long, finally controlling his mirth sufficiently to 
say: 

“ They don’t try to take it aboard the schooner 
till it’s coiled in the tubs. When it’s a case of get- 
tin’ the fish, one of the dories is run under the line, 
an’ while it passes over her the hooks are baited 
again as fast as the fish are taken off. There ain’t 
any need of my spendin’ so much time tryin’ to tell 
you ’bout it, ’cause it won’t be a great while before 

you’ll see the whole trick. Now ” 

“Get inter gear, Joseph I” Captain Ben 
shouted, thus breaking in on the fund of informa- 
tion which the stowaways were gaining. “ It won’t 
be a bad idee for your chums to break in on a fish- 
erman’s work, an’ we’ll soon be ready for yer.” 

“ He means that we’re to put up the splittin’ 
tables,” Master Babbidge said in a whisper as he 


io6 TWO STOWAWAYS 

urged his “ guests ” forward. “ They’re in the 

forepeak, an’ it’ll be quite a job to get ’em out.” 

The lads from Philadelphia were eager to do 
what they might, for the activity of the men, and 
the evident desire of all hands to take the great- 
est amount of fish in the shortest possible time, 
served to fire them with a similar spirit. They 
pulled and tugged at the heavy tables which had 
been stowed in the forepeak, and as they worked 
the Ellen Maria climbed up one wave and down, 
another, now and then throwing floods of water 
fore and aft; but the lads gave no more heed to 
the additional wetting than to the plunging and 
rolling of the vessel, until the task was well nigh 
completed, when Sam said in a tone of astonish- 
ment, as if but just at that moment aware of the 
fact: 

“ Why, see here. Tommy, what’s the matter 
with us? The vessel is tumbling around almost 
as badly as before we went to breakfast, and yet 
it doesn’t bother me a little bit! ” 

“ That’s ’cause you’ve got yer seadegs on,” 
Master Babbidge replied sagely. “ Folks don’t 
stay seasick only a little while at a time, an’ when 
it’s once over they’re all right. Father says the 
more you eat the less you’ll feel bad. Take hold 
an’ help me carry these tables aft 1 ” 

Then it was that the stowaways understood how 


DRESSING-DOWN 107 

the tables, which had a single leg at one end, 
were held in place, and that which had puzzled 
them not a little, became very simple. 

The legless end of the table was made fast to 
the rail of the schooner by a couple of wooden 
pins, and thus the whole was held firmly in 
place. 

The men gave no heed to the lads as they thus 
made ready for the dressing-down, but continued 
to fish all the while, and after waiting a short 
time without seeing any change, Sam asked: 

“ Why did they want us to put up those things, 
if they are not going to use them? ” 

“ Wait till the fish stop bItIn’. You couldn’t 
coax a man of ’em away from the rail now, no 
matter what you’d give him. How’d one of you 
like to try a hand at the fun? ” 

As a matter of fact the stowaways had believed, 
when they crept aboard the Ellen Maria to hide 
themselves, that their sole duty as amateur fisher- 
men would be to stand line in hand as these men 
were doing; they had never even dreamed of the 
disagreeable work which must be performed In 
addition to that of taking fish, and It seemed no 
more than honest to Captain Ben that they lend 
their valuable assistance in taking aboard a cargo. 

There was an ample supply of fishing lines, and 
when the lads from Philadelphia had eagerly ac- 


io8 TWO STOWAWAYS 

cepted the proposition to be inferred from Joe’s 
question, they were fitted out with the necessary 
gear for playing the part of fishermen. 

Master Babbidge baited the hooks for them, 
and as they lowered the heavily-weighted lines 
carefully, as if afraid the lead might strike bottom 
too quickly, Moses Salter raised a laugh by crying 
in mock alarm: 

“ Stand by, all hands, to make a rush to star- 
board when the new men haul in their catch, else 
the Ellen 'Maria may turn turtle by takin’ so much 
weight all on one side ! ” 

' The mirth had not yet subsided when Tommy 
whispered nervously to Joe : 

“ Something is pulling mighty hard on my line. 
Do you suppose it is a fish? ” 

“ Haul in, you lubber ! Of course it’s a fish, an’ 
if you don’t keep a strain on him he’s a goner ! ” 

It seemed to Tommy as if there must be a veri- 
table whale on his hook, so difficult did he find it 
to pull up the prize. More than once was he 
tempted to ask Master Babbidge to assist him; but 
before he could quite make up his mind to con- 
fess his weakness, Joe was hauling in his own line 
with the air of a professional fisherman, while Sam 
danced around in the highest excitement because 
of the commotion at the bottom of the sea which 
appeared to concern him individually. 


DRESSING-DOWN 109 

Of the three lads Tommy was the first to bring 
a fish in over the rail, and to his great disappoint- 
ment the prize, instead of being a whale, was not 
as large as many that had already been taken. 

From that moment until an hour later, when the 
fish suddenly ceased to bite, the stowaways did their 
fair share of the work, and when Captain Ben an- 
nounced that it was time to begin dressing-down, 
Tommy said to Sam, with a long-drawn sigh of 
satisfaction : 

“ Early this morning it seemed as if we would 
have the toughest kind of a time on board this 
vessel; but now that we’ve got our sea-legs on 
there’d be a heap of fun in this business if our peo- 
ple could know just where we were.” 

“ I only wish they did, and I’m not denying the 
possibility of fun ; but my arms ache so badly from 
pulling in such heavy loads that it really seems as 
if they would drop off, while the line has cut into 
my fingers like a knife. Let’s crawl into the fore- 
peak where we can rest; it won’t seem bad down 
there now that we are so tired.” 

“ Ahoy there, you stowaways ! ” Captain Ben 
cried at the very moment when the lads had turned 
to seek their lumpy beds. , “ One of you will wait 
on me, an’ Moses’ll try to keep the other busy 
for a spell. Joe, find a table somewhere, an’ see 
that you keep it runnin’.” 


no TWO STOWAWAYS 

‘‘What Is to be done now?” Sam asked in 
surprise, and Joe, halting for an instant before 
obeying the order which had just been given, 
replied : 

“ Dressin’-down, of course; an’ it’s a case of 
workin’ the best you know how If you’re to serve 
father or Moses.” 

“ Don’t we stop to rest and get something to 
eat?” Tommy asked, astonished that the work 
should be carried on with such a rush. 

“ Not much you don’t. P’rhaps there’ll be a 
chance for a bite before we turn In, but you 
mustn’t count too big on It. We’re at the banks 
now, an’ it’s a case of jump to it all the time in 
good weather.” 

Then Master Babbldge ran aft to the table 
where stood the young sailor whom Tommy had 
stumbled against when he made his first appear- 
ance In the cabin, and Sam stationed himself In 
front of Moses Salter, saying as he did so: 

“I’ll do the best I know how, sir; but you’ll 
have to tell me a little about it, for I never saw 
anything of the kind before.” 

“I don’t reckon you ever did, lad; but you’ll 
know a heap more ’bout it before these decks are 
cleared. The idee Is for you to keep me stocked 
up with fish all the time. Lay ’em on the table in 
a row, with the tails toward me; there ain’t much 


DRESSING-DOWN 1 1 1 

of a knack to it, except that you’re to pick ’em up 
as fast as I’m needin’ ’em.” 

“ That ought to be easy enough,” Sam replied 
carelessly, relieved to know that his duties were to 
be no more arduous, and glancing aft sufficiently 
long to see that Tommy had taken his station at 
the captain’s table. 

“ It don’t seem as if I could split a fish open an’ 
pass it along for Jimmy Brown to strip while 
you’re pickin’ one up, an’ p’rhaps it can’t be did; 
but I’m goin’ to make a try for it,”. Mr. Salter 
said with a peculiar twinkle of his salt-encrusted 
eye as Sam quickly placed four large fish before 
him and turned to pick up more. 

“ Come, come; you ain’t movin’ any ways spry,” 
the old sailor said sharply, and to Sam’s surprise 
he saw, when he straightened himself up with a 
large fish in each hand, that the end of the table 
directly in front of Mr. Salter was bare. 

“What did you do with those I left there?” 
Sam asked in astonishment, and even while he 
spoke the fisherman had split the last of the two 
just placed before him. 

“ Do with ’em? Why I’m splittin’ fish, an’ was 
countin’ on you to pass ’em up fast enough so I 
shouldn’t go to sleep.” 

By this time Sam began to understand that his 
task was not as easy as had at first appeared, and 


1 1 2 TWO STOWAWAYS 

before being aboard the Ellen Maria many days, 
he came to know that whoever supplied with fish 
the splitting table of Moses Salter’s — the smartest 
hand at dressing-down to be found on the banks — 
was forced to work to the best of his ability every 
moment. 

He did his honest best to accomplish what had 
been required of him, working feverishly while 
the perspiration streamed down his face, with his 
arms lame and his back aching as if on the point 
of breaking short off, and yet at no one time did 
he succeed in keeping the old man really busy. 

Lifting a ten or twenty-pound fish in either hand 
five or six times each minute, and continuing such 
labor hour after hour, is sufficient to weary even 
those who are accustomed to it, therefore one can 
well understand how exhausted Sam was when no 
more than half an hour had passed, and the number 
of fish on deck did not appear to have been less- 
ened to any appreciable degree. 

“ Lots of fun in a fisherman’s life, for lads like 
you who haven’t had overly much sport in this ’ere 
world,” Moses Salter finally said as he ceased work 
in order to give Sam a breathing spell. “ Don’t 
you think this beats idlin’ ’round Portland or Bar 
Harbor?” 

“ You’re meaning to ask if I’ve begun to realize 


DRESSING-DOWN 113 

what a fool I made of myself by coming aboard 
this schooner,” Sam said grimly as he flung one 
heavy fish after another on the table. “ If I 
hadn’t found out already, I’m thinkin’ I’d begin 
to have a suspicion before this job is finished.” 


CHAPTER XI 
Dory Work 

It was nearly midnight before the work of 
dressing down was finished, and during all that 
time the lads from Philadelphia were forced, 
rather than admit their Inability, to continue the 
labor which, at the outset, had seemed so easy. 

Never one of the Ellen Marians crew ceased to 
work until the last fish had been cared for, nor did 
any of them appear to think It necessary that food 
should be prepared. More than once had the cook 
replenished the huge pot with coffee, and at Inter- 
vals the men went Into the cabin to mug-up, Sam 
and Tommy following their example when Moses 
Salter suggested it by saying : 

“ You’ll never make what might be called an 
A I fisherman till you get Inter the habit of mug- 
gln’-up whenever there’s a breathin’ spell. 
S’posen you an’ me have a pull at that ’ere pot? ” 

“What about Tommy?” Sam asked, turning 
to look at his cousin, who was making frantic 
efforts to keep Captain Ben’s table supplied with 
fish. 

“ How ’bout sendin’ that stowaway of yours be- 


DORY WORK 1 15 

low for a mug-up?” the old fisherman called to the 
master of the Ellen Maria, and that officer replied 
with a laugh: 

“ All right, Moses, take him with you an’ I’ll 
try to worry along without any helper for a spell ; 
it strikes me I’d get more fish cleaned in that way.” 

There was no need to ask Master Tommy if he 
wanted a breathing spell. Never in all his life 
had he been so nearly exhausted as at that 
moment; his arms and back ached as if the joints 
were about to separate, and he was so thoroughly 
covered with fish gurry that it seemed as if there 
was not water enough in the entire ocean to cleanse 
him properly. 

Immediately Captain Ben told him to “ spell 
himself ” he hurried away in obedience to Sam’s 
summons, and once the lads and Mr. Salter were 
in the cabin, the latter said with a decided twinkle 
of the left eye : 

“ What a pity it would have been if the Ellen 
Maria had contrived to leave port before you’d 
had time to hide aboard? You’d missed all this 
’ere fun, the like of which hain’t to be found 
ashore, no matter how keen you hunt.” 

“ It wouldn’t hurt me a little bit to miss some 
of it just now,” Sam said grimly, as he took the 
mug of steaming coffee which old Moses had been 
making ready for him. “ There’s such a thing as 


1 1 6 TWO STOWAWAYS 

getting too much sport at one time, and that’s 
what’s happening to me to-night. How about it, 
Tommy? ” 

“ It seems to me as if I’d tumble over any 
minute,” Master Harriman replied, with a long- 
drawn sigh. “ If I could wash myself once in a 
while it wouldn’t be quite so bad, for I smell so 
strongly of fish that it almost makes me sick.” 

“ I reckon a bed in one of them Bar Harbor 
hotels, with your mother to come in an’ tuck you 
up, would go mighty good ’bout this time? ” Mr. 
Salter said as he gave Tommy a mug of coffee. 
“ Wa’al, you won’t strike anythin’ of that kind till 
we’ve loaded the Ellen Maria chock ablock with 
fish, so the more there are to dress-down, the 
nearer you come to tacklin’ a real bed. Drink yer 
fill of coffee, ’cause it’ll go a good ways towards 
restin’ you up, an’ then we’ll get on deck again, 
for we don’t want our shipmates to think we’re 
sogerin’.” 

The coffee refreshed them wonderfully, and 
when the mugs had been emptied they followed 
Mr. Salter on deck once more, there to continue 
the labor of handling fish until it seemed really 
an impossibility for them to raise a finger. 

When the last of the catch had been cleaned, 
and Sam had succeeded in straightening his back, 
he said with a sigh of relief to his cousin : 


DORY WORK 1 17 

“ I wouldn’t have believed this morning that 
anything could have happened to make the fore- 
peak a place I would ever really want to enter; 
but now it’ll be like going into the snuggest kind 
of a room. Come on, there’s no sense in Standing 
here when we can lie down.” 

“ Hold on there, you fellers ! ” Master Bab- 
bidge cried as the lads started forward. “ It’s 
our business to swab down the deck while the crew 
are sendin’ the catch below, an’ when it’s been 
done we’ll get a bite before turnin’ in.” 

Tommy actually groaned at this intimation that 
their labors had not yet come to an end, and Sam 
whispered in his ear: 

“ Don’t let anybody see how tired we are! No 
matter how rough things go, we’re only getting 
served well right for running away, and it is bet- 
ter to take the medicine pleasantly than to cry 
baby.” 

Thus stimulated to further exertion when it had 
seemed to him as if the limit of his endurance 
had been reached. Master Harriman did his full 
share in hoisting buckets of water over the rail 
and throwing them on the deck, while Joe scrubbed 
the gurry and blood away with the stump of a 
broom, and once Captain Ben gave the word to 
“ knock off,” he started toward the forepeak, fol- 
lowed by Sam. 


1 1 8 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“Hold on there, you fellers!” Master Bab- 
bidge called peremptorily. “ We’re going to have 
a bite before turnin’ in ! ” 

“ You can have as many bites as you want; but 
a chance to lie down is what we’re after, and I 
wouldn’t swap It for all the food aboard this 
schooner! ” 

Then the stowaways stumbled forward, scuffling 
along the wet decks as if their feet were weighted 
heavily, and, arrived at the forepeak hatch, the 
two literally tumbled below, falling asleep on the 
lumpy bed almost Immediately they were stretched 
out at full length on the dunnage. 

“ I didn’t give them boys credit for havin’ so 
much sand,” Captain Ben said In a low tone to 
Moses Salter as the stowaways disappeared, and 
the old sailor replied: 

“ It went considerably agin’ my grain to keep 
that little shaver servin’ me when I could see that 
it was about as much as he could do to raise his 
arms; but I reckon he’s needin’ all the lesson 
that can be given him aboard the Ellen Maria, 
an’ I’m blest if he didn’t hold out like a little 
tiger.” 

“ Don’t get so soft-hearted as to let up on ’em 
any, Moses. It’s our business to deal out a full 
dose of fishln’ so’s this ’ere stowin’ away will do 
good. Instead of tryin’ to make fishermen of ’em. 


DORY WORK 1 19 

though I’m allowin’ that in another week they can 
work all ’round my Joe, when it comes to hard 
knocks.” 

The stowaways, all ignorant of the fact that 
they had won praise from those who posed as 
taskmasters, slept as only tired boys can. They 
were not even disturbed when Master Babbidge 
came below and did his best to arouse them that 
he might learn what decision they had arrived at 
regarding the beauty and pleasures of a fisher- 
man’s life, nor again when he deliberately rolled 
them into the trawl tubs because, as he insisted, 
they had taken more than their rightful share of 
the “ bed.” 

And no one can say how long they might have 
slept, so nearly exhausted were they because of 
the labors of the afternoon and evening, if it had 
not been for those same trawl tubs in which they 
were reposing doubled up like jointed dolls, with 
nothing save one thickness of canvas between 
their bodies and the collection of hooks. 

The sun had hardly more than shown himself 
next morning when Captain Ben decided that the 
Ellen Maria was on good fishing grounds, and 
at once called all hands to set trawls, for, as Joe 
had said, there was no time to be wasted when the 
schooner was on the banks. 

In order to get the trawls it was necessary to 


120 TWO STOWAWAYS 

take the tubs out of the forepeak, and therefore 
it was, when it seemed to the stowaways as if they 
had hardly more than fallen asleep, they were 
rudely roused by being tumbled unceremoniously 
out of the makeshift for a bed, opening their eyes 
to hear Jimmy Brown, one of the ablest of the 
younger members of the crew, cry as if believing 
he was saying something very comical: 

“ Them as sleep in trawl tubs must count on 
gettin’ up in the forenoon, for the Ellen Maria 
ain’t any excursion boat where the passengers can 
have meals served to ’em in bed I ” 

It was on the very tip of Sam’s tongue to make 
an angry reply, and insist that after working 
nearly all night they had the right to sleep dur- 
ing a certain portion of the daytime; but, for- 
tunately, he bit off the words before they could 
get out of his lips, and gripped Tommy’s arm 
hard lest that young gentleman should not be as 
prudent. 

“ We’d have taken the trawl tubs aft with our 
compliments, if you had sent word that they were 
wanted,” Sam said with a cheery laugh. “ An- 
other time, if you notify us. Tommy and I will 
attend to any little matters of that kind, so you 
won’t have to disturb yourself.” 

“ Hello I gettin’ your sea-tongue as well as your 
sea-legs on, eh? I’d kind’er run of the idee that 


DORY WORK 12 1 

you got a full dose last night ! ” Jimmy Brown 
cried in surprise, and from that moment the stow- 
aways had one more friend aboard the Ellen 
Maria, 

“ Will we try to get some more sleep, or shall 
we go on deck now?” Tommy asked when the 
tubs had been hoisted on deck, Master Babbidge 
slumbering peacefully during all the bustle in his 
bed-chamber. 

“ Let’s turn out and wash ourselves once more ; 
that’ll waken us, and we’ll be ready for work. You 
see. Tommy, unless we do our full share of what 
is going on, we’re likely to have a rough time of 
it, and it stands us in hand to move lively.” 

Ten minutes later Moses Salter came upon the 
stowaways as they stood well forward scrubbing 
themselves in a bucket of water drawn from over 
the rail, and said with that peculiar twinkle of 
the eye: 

“ Tryin’ to get some of the gurry off, eh"? ” 

“ We got rid of that last night, and now we’re 
trying to part with some of the perfume,” Sam 
replied cheerily. “ What are the men doing with 
the boats? ” 

“ Puttin’ ’em over the rail to be ready for set- 
tin’ trawls, as soon as the cap’in of the galley has 
a bite for ’em to eat. Where’s Joe Babbidge?” 

“ In the forepeak, sir.” 


122 TWO STOWAWAYS 

The old sailor seized the bucket which the boys 
were using, and, without a word of warning, 
threw the contents directly upon the sleeping lad, 
causing him to spring to his feet very suddenly, 
and with many an angry word. 

“ That’s a fisherman’s way of callin’ lazy hands 
to breakfast,” the old sailor said as he walked 
leisurely aft, and Joe came up through the small 
hatch like a jack-in-a-box, as he asked savagely: 

‘‘Who played that funny trick on me?” 

“ It was Mr. Salter who threw the water,” 
Tommy replied, as he refilled the bucket by lower- 
ing it over the rail, and on hearing who had thus 
summoned him in “ fisherman’s way,” Master 
Babbidge’s temper oozed out at his finger’s ends, 
for he knew full well that his body would come in 
forcible contact with a rope’s end if he spoke im- 
pudently to the old sailor, who had the reputation 
of being the best fisherman on the banks. Captain 
Ben himself not excepted. 

Five minutes later the stowaways had forgotten 
that they were hungry, for then the nest of dories 
carried amidships had been put over the rail, and 
in each were two men rowing off over the rolling 
ocean with the trawls that were to be set in the im- 
mediate vicinity. 

Moses Salter and Jimmy Brown were making 
ready their craft when the lads from Philadelphia 


DORY WORK 123 

raced aft to watch the proceedings, and the old 
man said as the two peered over the rail: 

“ Ever see trawls set, lads? I don’t reckon you 
ever have, an’ if so be you can hold up on yer 
breakfast till we get back, you may come aboard 
with us. Jimmy an’ me will show you the fine 
pints of fishin’.” 

“ Will the boat hold both of us while the wa- 
ter is so rough? ” Tommy asked, as he began to 
clamber over the rail, and Mr. Salter, looking out 
over the sea, which was as calm as he had ever 
seen it, replied hesitatingly, much as though 
weighing well his words : 

I allow if you set still, an’ don’t try to wink 
one eye at a time, we’ll pull through without 
drownin’ more’n half the crew. Twist yerselves 
down in the bow, where you can easy jump ashore 
in case these ’ere vi’lent waves come aboard too 
fast, an’ Jimmy shall play the swell in the stern 
sheets, with not a blessed thing to do but let the 
trawl run through them ’ere delicate fingers of 
his’n.” 

“ Here, you fellers I ” Master Babbidge cried 
as Mr. Salter pulled the dory, in the bow of which 
crouched Sam and Tommy, away from the Ellen 
Maria, “ What right have you got to be doin’ 
dory work when you don’t know how to bait a 
trawl?” 


124 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ Keep yer eyes on ’em right sharp, Joseph, an’ 
see if you can catch ’em doin’ any work aboard 
this ’ere craft I ” Mr. Salter cried in reply, and, 
without understanding why it should be so, the 
stowaways understood that Master Babbidge was 
decidedly angry because they had accepted the in- 
vitation to see how the trawls were set. 

On first putting off from the schooner the lads 
from Philadelphia were by no means assured that 
it was safe to venture far away from the larger 
vessel in so small a craft. Although the surface 
of the water was not even wrinkled by the lightest 
breath, the swell rolled long and deep, causing 
it to seem, when the dory went into the trough of 
the sea, as if she was bent on going to the bottom; 
but when she rose quite as regularly as she slid 
down into the valleys of water, swinging to this 
side or that lightly, shipping never so much as a 
drop of water, they came to have some faint idea 
as to the seaworthiness of such a boat. 

“How far are we going?” Sam asked, after 
Mr. Salter had pulled a long distance from the 
schooner without giving any indication of setting 
the trawl. 

“ I allow we’ll get far enough away to give 
them fellers a wide berth,” the old man replied, 
as he waved his hand to draw attention to the 
other boats which had left the Ellen Maria, “ We 


DORY WORK 125 

don’t want to mix up any, so I reckon we’d best 
edge down to the s’uthard a good bit.” 

Then Mr. Salter gave his undivided attention 
to the oars, and the stowaways, all fear as to the 
sailorly qualities of the dory having been dis- 
sipated, found time to drink in the beauties of the 
scene. 


CHAPTER XII 

A Mishap 

The Ellen Maria was the only vessel in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the dory, but far away in the 
distance could be seen the white sails of a large 
schooner flapping idly against the spars, and after 
a short scrutiny Jimmy Brown said decidedly: 

“ Yonder’s the General Grant; must’er run 
down last night. Her crew had to hump them- 
selves quite considerable to get here so close on 
our heels, for when I saw her in Portland I al- 
lowed it would be four or five days Tore she could 
clear.” 

“ Seein’ us under' way put a move on ’em, an^ 
now if they can only square away for home be- 
fore we’ve got a full fare, how Cap’in Dodge will 
crow I He’s been tryin’ for the last two years to 
get ahead of Ben Babbidge, an’ hain’t done it 
yet.” 

“ How many men does she carry? ” 

“ The same as we do to a dot; but if we beat 
her home Eph Dodge will swear that our stow- 
aways count the same as two Ai fishermen.” 

“ Course he’ll be needin’ some excuse if we skin 
126 


A MISHAP 127 

him; but sure he won’t get quite so low down as 
to say that a couple of babies like them,” and 
Jimmy Brown nodded in the direction of Sam and 
Tommy, “ can be called reg’lar hands! ” 

“ He’ll say anythin’ to get out’er allowin’ that 
he’s been beat agin by the Ellen Maria. I reckon 
you’d better let that ’ere trawl spin off hereabouts. 
I was countin’ on goin’ to the s’uthard a bit fur- 
ther; but, seein’s how Eph Dodge has got erlong, 
we’d best keep reasonably snug to our own craft, 
else he’ll go ’round tellin’ how we stretched out 
all over the whole Atlantic Ocean.” 

Handling the flakes of line deftly, Jimmy 
Brown threw out the first buoy, and then allowed 
the baited hooks to slip over the stern of the dory 
as Moses Salter pulled her slowly forward, the 
lads from Philadelphia watching closely every 
movement of line or man. 

“ I should think you’d stand a good chance of 
sticking some of those hooks into your hands,” 
Sam said half to himself, and Jimmy Brown re- 
plied with a laugh : 

“ So I might if I was a dummy! When you’ve 
handled as many trawls as I have, I reckon you 
won’t be foolish enough to prick yer fingers.” 

Flake after flake of the line, buoy after buoy 
were thrown out until, when it seemed to the 
stowaways as if several miles in distance separated 


128 TWO STOWAWAYS 

the first buoy from the last, the end was reached, 

and a small keg made fast. 

“There!” Moses Salter said when he pulled 
the dory’s head around in the direction of the 
schooner. “ I reckon we can lay by long enough 
to get a square meal; but if the fish are bitin’ as 
they were last night, it’ll be a case of runnin’ that 
’ere trawl considerable before noon.” 

“ That’s what 1 ” Jimmy Brown replied em- 
phatically; “but I’ll have a good thick linin’ to 
my ribs before you see them ’ere hooks agin.” 

“ Now that you’ve seen some of the fine pints 
of fishin’, I allow you know enough to set a trawl 
all by your lonesome, eh lads?” the old sailor 
asked with a twinkle of the eye as he half turned 
to look at the stowaways. “ Seein’s how you’ve 
been so keen to turn fishermen, it stands you in 
hand to break inter dory work.” 

“ When we stowed away it was in order to take 
a cruise in the Ellen Maria, because Joe Babbidge 
put it up to us as being the tallest kind of fun; 
but we’ve had all we need of the business, and 
shall be mighty glad of a chance to go ashore,” 
Sam said laughingly. 

“ Still feelin’ pretty homesick, eh? ” 

“Yes, a good deal that way, but if our people 
only knew exactly where we were, and that we’d 
surely be back to Bar Harbor within two or three 


A MISHAP " 129 

weeks, Pm not so certain that we couldn’t have 
something like a good time.” 

“ No matter how much dressin’-down came your 
way? ” Jimmy Brown asked with a grin, and 
Tommy replied promptly: 

“ That’s mighty hard work, and I wouldn’t take 
to it from choice; but so long as we must pay our 
way, it might as well be that as anything. I’m 
beginning to believe that fishermen don’t get a 
great deal of fun out of the business.” 

“ You’re right, lad,” Mr. Salter said solemnly; 
“ it’s a case of more kicks than kisses, an’ a banker 
takes his life in his hands every time he leaves 
port; but no matter how hard the money comes, 
with some, like Jimmy Brown, it goes precious 
easy at the first port. Jimmy’s my dory-mate, an’ 
has been these two years ; I brought him up to the 
work, so to speak, for it was me who showed him 
how to set his first trawl, an’ the only thing I’ve 
got agin him is the way he spends his money, 
an’ the foolishness of the spendin’. You can bet 
great big dollars that Ben Babbidge or Eph Dodge 
didn’t throw around the cash they’d earned, else 
they’d be sailin’ on shares to-day, instead of 
ownin’ the schooners they run.” 

“ Now look here, Moses,” Jimmy Brown said 
as something like a blush spread over his bronzed 
cheeks, “ don’t start in on that preachin’ so soon 


130 TWO STOWAWAYS 

after the cruise is begun. I’m willin’ to allow that 
I’ve been foolish when I met some of them Glou- 
cestermen ashore; but that’s done with, an’ I’m 
goin’ to save my dollars after this.” 

“ You can get a promise out’er Jimmy easier 
than anythin’ else,” the old sailor said to the lads, 
as he turned once more until they could see the 
twinkle In his eye, “ an’ It’s no more bother for 
him to forget than It is to make It. He’s a savin’ 
chap when he hasn’t got a cent ; but mighty reckless 
after bein’ paid off.” 

Then Jimmy Brown explained to the old man 
liov/ he proposed to Invest the money which would 
be his when next the Ellen Maria made port, and 
was still trying to convince his dory-mate that he 
had the proper Idea of economy, when the little 
craft approached near the schooner. 

Master Babbidge was standing by the rail of 
the vessel looking as sour as a green apple, and 
Tommy whispered to his cousin as he glanced at 
the lad : 

“ We must have done something wrong by go- 
ing out with Mr. Salter, for it’s plain to be seen 
that we’re not In his good books now.” 

Sam realized that Master Babbidge had it In 
his power to make matters very disagreeable for 
himself and Tommy if he was so disposed, and 
with the idea of trying to placate him, he rose to 


A MISHAP 131 

his feet in the bow of the dory as he said with a 
laugh : 

“Why didn’t you come out with us? We’ve 
had the finest kind of a sail ” 

“ You’d better been below gettin’ breakfast, 
’less you think the cook ain’t got anythin’ to do 
but keep grub on the table waitin’ for you ! ” 
Master Babbidge .replied in a surly tone, and at 
that moment, when the dory was but a few feet 
from the side of the schooner, Moses Salter turned 
in surprise as if to see what had aroused the boy’s 
ire. 

With the oarsman’s attention thus diverted, the 
dory came bow on, striking the Ellen Maria a 
smart blow — not sufficient to have done any mis- 
chief had none save sailors been aboard the little 
craft, but Sam was so green in such things that he 
gave no heed whatsoever to fending off, and the 
natural consequence was that when the dory struck, 
he being still on his feet, the shock toppled him 
over the bow. 

The lad sank like a stone, but not as silently, 
for he floundered to the best of his ability with 
legs and arms, thereby insuring a more speedy 
descent. Tommy screamed in alarm, but without 
giving words to his fear, and neither Moses Salter 
nor Jimmy Brown knew what had occurred until 
Master Babbidge cried angrily, as if believing the 


132 TWO STOWAWAYS 

occupants of the dory were entirely responsible 
for the mishap : 

“ Now see what — why don’t — Man over- 
board I ” 

When Moses Salter leaped to his feet there 
was nothing to betoken the fact that Sam had gone 
on a voyage to the bottom of the sea. That he 
was not to be seen, while Tommy was leaning far 
over the side of the boat alternately sobbing and 
screaming, gave him as good an idea of what had 
occurred, however, as if Master Babbidge had 
retained sufficient presence of mind to explain 
everything. 

“Back her off a bit, Jimmy!” the old sailor 
cried as he seized the gaff which hung in beckets 
on the starboard side of the dory. “ I’m allowin’ 
he’ll come up jest outside of us, ’cause there’s a 
bit of a current that way. If he — Here he is! 
Port a little! There! Hold her steady! ” 

At that instant Sam rose, gasping, to the surface, 
and Tommy leaped aft as if it was his intention 
to go over the rail, but Jimmy Brown caught 
him by the coat-collar as he cried sharply : 

“ Keep back there, an’ don’t get in the way ! 
Mose Salter can get him if anybody can, an’ you 
don’t want to make a fool of yourself! ” 

Mr. Salter made one vigorous sweep with the 
gaff, hooking it deftly under Sam’s coat-collar. 


A MISHAP 133 

and then drew the lad slowly in to where Jimmy 
Brown stood leaning over the rail of the dory 
awaiting an opportunity to haul him in. 

“ Don’t squirm, lad, for there’s no tellin’ how 
stout your jacket may be, an’ if the cloth gives way 
it won’t be so easy to get hold of you agin. Never 
try to help yourself when yer in sich a fix, ’cause 
you can’t.” 

Even while Mr. Salter was thus giving orders 
Jimmy Brown had seized Sam by both arms, and 
in a twinkling he was lying on his back in the bot- 
tom of the dory, the old sailor saying as he pad- 
died the light craft toward the schooner : 

“ If so be you don’t know how to stand up in a 
boat, lad, it’s best to stay right where you are till 
we can rig a tackle to hoist you inboard. I was 
beginnin’ to get the idea that we might make an 
imitation sailor out of you after a while; but I’ll 
have to give it up.” 

There were three men on board the Ellen 
Maria, in addition to the captain and cook, and 
all had rushed to the rail at the first alarm; but 
immediately it was seen that Moses Salter had 
caught the lad with the gaff, every one turned back 
to resume whatever task or pleasure he was bent 
on, treating what to Tommy was little less than 
a tragedy, as if of too common occurrence to war- 
rant any needless expenditure of time. 


134 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Master Babbidge, however, was not one of 
those who lost all interest in the scene as soon 
as it was apparent that Sam was no longer in dan- 
ger. 

He held his place by the rail, frowning 
ominously as Master Chesley scrambled to his 
feet and began climbing aboard the schooner look- 
ing not unlike a half-drowned kitten. 

“ If I’d knowed that you didn’t have sense 
enough to take care of yourself in a dory I 
wouldn’t asked you to come in the Ellen Maria, 
he said sourly, as if some grievous injury had been 
done him, and Tommy, angered by the tone as 
well as the words, cried sharply : 

“ It’s a big pity you didn’t know, and then we 
wouldn’t be here! If Sam falls overboard he 
hasn’t got to ask your permission first I ” 

Master Babbidge looked surprise, even pained, 
because of the sharp note in his “ guest’s ” voice, 
and was evidently about to make an intemperate 
reply, when Moses Salter interrupted by saying 
in a tone of command such as Joe did not dare to 
disobey, even though his father was captain of 
the schooner: 

“ There’s no call for you to put your oar in, if 
you can’t do it a bit more civil. It stands you in 
hand to find dry clothes for the lad while I give 
him a dose of hot coffee. He’s got pluck enough 


A MISHAP 135 

of his own ; but hasn’t roughed it so much yet that 
a dousin’ may not work him harm.” 

Master Babbidge disappeared aft immediately, 
and the old sailor said to Sam as he led him 
forward: 

“ I’m allowin’ the forepeak is the best place 
for you till you’ve got over bein’ shook up, so to 
speak. Joe’ll take dry clothes there for you to 
put on, an’ while that’s bein’ done I’ll get some 
coffee.” 

“ There’s no reason why you should bother 
about me, sir, indeed there isn’t,” Sam cried, 
speaking for the first time since his involuntary 
bath. “ I’m all right, and it wouldn’t have done 
any harm if I’d stayed in the water a good while 
longer, for then, perhaps. I’d got rid of the smell 
of fish.” 

“ I’m allowin’ you’re all right, lad; but at the 
same time you’re goin’ to fill yourself full of coffee, 
or I’ll know the reason why.” 

Then Mr. Salter went aft, and as Tommy urged 
his cousin into the forepeak according to orders, 
he said in a tearful tone: 

“ Oh, Sam, Sam, wouldn’t it have been dread- 
ful if you had drowned! Just think, that might 
have happened, and then you wouldn’t had a chance 
in this world to tell your mother how sorry you 
are because of having run away! ” 


136 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ Do you know, Tommy, something like that 
came into my mind when I was sinking! If I ever 
do get home again you’d better believe I’ll make 
up to father and mother in some way, for all the 
trouble I’ve caused them! ” 

“ If Joe Babbidge had held his tongue, instead 
of telling what jolly times fishermen have at sea, 
we wouldn’t be in this scrape ! ” 

“ Don’t let’s put the blame on him. Tommy. 
We’re the ones who stowed away, and we needn’t 
have done it unless we’d a mind. It’s a mighty 
wicked thing we’ve done, and whatever happens 
won’t be any too rough to pay for it.” 

By this time Master Babbidge had arrived at 
the forepeak hatch with a supply of dry clothing, 
and although there was still an expression of sulki- 
ness on his face, his tone was reasonably friendly 
as he said: 

“ I reckon these will be enough, though when 
I fell in nobody seemed to think I ought’er put on 
dry clothes.” 

“ And there is no need for me to make a 
change,” Sam replied. “ I’m all right, though it 
stands to reason I’ll feel better after getting some 
hot coffee, so you may as well take those things 
back.” 

“ But father says you’re to get inter ’em as 


A MISHAP 137 

quick as you know how,” Master Babbldge cried 
sharply, and then, as if fearing he could no longer 
keep back the words which ought not be spoken, 
he dropped the garments on the deck, walking 
aft just as Moses Salter came from the cabin. 


CHAPTER XIII 
The News Item 

Sam stood irresolutely, looking at the garments 
which Master Babbidge had let fall on the deck 
much as if they burned his fingers, and making 
no move toward changing his clothing, until 
Tommy asked nervously: 

“ Why don’t you get into those dry things? We 
can’t go to breakfast until you do, and I’m so hun- 
gry that there’s danger of my turning cannibal if 
I am left alone with any one who don’t smell of 
fish.” 

“ I can’t say whether I’ll make the change or 
not,” and Sam looked quickly around to learn if 
any other than his cousin was near enough to hear 
what he said. “ It seems to me we have shown 
the men that we’re no duffers, so far as being will- 
ing to do our share of the work is concerned, but 
if I make a great fuss about having been over- 
board, they may get the idea that we’re regular 
babies.” 

“ It can’t be helped if they do. The captain 
said that you were to change your clothes, and 
that’s what you must do, unless you’re willing to 
deliberately disobey orders.” 

138 


THE NEWS ITEM 139 

This view of the case caused Sam to move very 
lively, and while he was thus engaged in making 
himself more comfortable his cousin asked 
solicitously : 

“ Do you feel any worse for having fallen 
overboard? ” 

“ Not a little bit, except that it wasn’t pleas- 
ant to swallow quite so much salt water. What a 
fool I was not to have kept an eye out on the 
dory! ” 

“ You can’t count on turnin’ sailor in a minute, 
lad,” Moses Salter said soothingly, he having 
come up in time to hear Sam’s exclamation. “ If 
anybody’s to blame for what happened, it’s Jimmy 
Brown, ’cause he ought’er sung out when he saw 
you standin’ in the bow. Howsomever, there’s 
no need of chewin’ it over very much, seein’s how 
no harm has been done, an’ it’ll be a lesson that 
you needed to learn, if so be you’re goin’ to finish 
the cruise in the Ellen MariaJ^ 

“ And that is what I suppose we must do, now 
that we’ve made so much of a start,” Tommy 
added with a mirthless laugh. “ Sam and I have 
given over wanting to be fishermen, but since it’s 
a question of staying aboard this vessel two or 
three weeks, we’re bound to find out enough about 
the business so that we shan’t go overboard every 
now and then.” 


140 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ If you keep on as you’ve begun, I’m allowin’ 
you’ll soon get the hang of things,” the old sailor 
replied approvingly, and added as he saw that 
Sam had completed the change of garments, 
“ Now that your mate has got inter dry togs. I’m 
allowin’ you lads had best lay in what’s left of 
breakfast, so toddle aft where the cook is waitin’ 
for yer.” 

“Where is Joe Babbidge?” Sam asked appre- 
hensively. 

“ Don’t give any heed to him, lad. He’s 
humped up like a skunk eatin’ bees, jest now; but 
he’ll soon come ’round inter fair weather if you 
leave him alone.” 

“ I’d like to know what made him so cross? ” 
Sam said half to himself, as he hung in the wind 
instead of following the advice just given, and 
Mr. Salter replied with a careless laugh : 

“ Most likely he’s got it inter his thick head 
that you’re bound to ask him when you shall do 
this or that, an’ then agin he may be in the dumps 
’cause he wasn’t given a chance to go out with 
Jimmy an’ me. Whichever way you figger it, 
there’s no call to bother your heads ’bout him. 
Get aft lively, or Abe’ll be on his ear, seein’s he’s 
been waitin’ for you quite a spell.” 

“Have you been to breakfast, sir?” Tommy 
asked as he moved slowly aft. 


THE NEWS ITEM 141 

“ Wa’al, Jimmy an’ me mugged-iip pretty 
hearty before goin’ out, an’ we don’t need more’n 
a cold bite to put us inter good shape.” 

Then Mr. Salter literally forced the lads to obey 
him, and when they were come into the cabin 
Abraham Gunn, the cook, said sharply, although 
there was an expression of good nature on his 
face : 

“ I allowed to keep things hot for you lubbers, 
seein’s how you’ve been overboard like a couple 
of farmers; but you must remember that while 
we’re on the banks this ’ere table don’t wait for 
anybody, not even the cap’in.” 

“ We could just as well have stayed away till 
dinner-time,” Sam replied with a note of apology 
in his tones as he seated himself at the place in- 
dicated by Abraham’s huge outstretched hand. 

“You couldn’t done anythin’ of the kind! If 
you’d got your share of the bite after dressin’- 
down last night you might’er wiggled through a 
spell; but them as bear a hand aboard a fishin’ 
vessel need a good bit to eat, an’ want it often, 
’cordin’ to my experience, an’ I’ve been on the 
banks, man an’ boy, nigh to twenty years.” 

“ I wanted ’em to come below last night, but 
they w^ouldn’t,” Master Babbidge cried shrilly, 
as he showed his head down the companionway. 

“ We were needing sleep more than food just 


142 TWO STOWAWAYS 

then,” Sam said with a laugh as he made a vigor- 
ous attack on the fried codfish with which his plate 
was heaped so generously, and, because of the 
hunger which assailed him, giving no heed to the 
uninviting appearance of the table. 

“ You’ll find that you’d better stick to me, while 
you’re aboard the Ellen Maria, ^stead of tryin’ to 
curry favor with old Moses,” Master Babbidge 
said with a threat in his tones, and Sam, looking 
up in surprise, replied rather more sharply than 
he should have done: 

“ I don’t know what you mean by ‘ sticking to 
you,’ but I do know that we haven’t been trying 
to ‘ curry favor ’ with any one. This much is 
certain; If you had told us exactly the truth 
about what your father would say or do when he 
found us on board, we wouldn’t have stowed away 
on this or any other vessel.” 

“ But you did it jest the same, an’ so long as 
you’re here you’d better ask me ’bout things, an’ 
then p’rhaps you won’t be tumblin’ all over the 
banks like a lobster! ” 

“ Why should you care if we went out to see 
Mr. Salter set the trawl?” Tommy asked inno- 
cently. 

“Why? ’Cause I’d rigged up a plan to have 
fun jest on your account, an’ you spoiled it all by 
goin’ off the very minute I’d got ready I ” 


THE NEWS ITEM 143 

No one asked Master Babbidge what his 
“ plan ” was, and after waiting In vain two or 
three minutes for the question to be put, he added 
triumphantly : 

“ P’rhaps you didn’t know that the General 
Grant had hove in sight? ” 

“ We saw her just before the trawl was set, 
and Mr. Salter told us what vessel It was,” 
Tommy replied quietly, whereat Master Babbidge 
disclosed his “ plan ” without waiting for a more 
dramatic opportunity: 

“ Wa’al, I asked father If we could pull over 
to her, seeln’s there won’t be any work for us to 
do till after the trawls are run, an’ he said we 
might ! ” 

“ But Sam and I don’t know anything about 
managing a boat when the waves are so big.” 

“Pooh! This Is the calmest kind of a calm 
day, an’ any baby could pull a dory! I’d do the 
rowin’, an’ all you fellers ’d have to do would be 
to set still an’ watch me! Say, I haln’t sure but 
I’ll go after all, if you think you can keep away 
from old Moses when we get back!” 

“ Why should we want to go? ” Sam asked In 
surprise. “ We don’t know any one aboard the 
General Grant, and even though we haven’t been 
on this vessel very long. I’ve seen enough of fish- 
ing schooners.” 


144 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“But she left port the day after we did!” 
Master Babbidge cried, thoroughly surprised be- 
cause his generous offer had not been accepted 
with enthusiasm. 

“ Suppose she did? That doesn’t make her any 
different from this schooner.” 

“ No,” Joe replied hesitatingly and in evident 
disappointment until a happy thought came to 
him, when he added: “ How do you fellers know 
but your folks sent some word by Cap’in Eph? 
They must have got your letter before she sailed, 
an’ knowin’ she was cornin’ right down here, wrote 
somethin’ ? ” 

In no other w^ay could Master Babbidge have 
excited any desire in the minds of the stowaways 
for a visit to the General Grant; but now they 
were quite as eager as he would have had them. 
It seemed very reasonable that their parents would 
have been thoroughly well informed as to the 
movements of the bankers sailing from Portland, 
and almost positive that this latest arrival had on 
board some message from them. 

In a twinkling their hunger was forgotten in 
the hope of receiving a message from those whom 
they had so cruelly forsaken, and Sam sprang to 
his feet excitedly as he cried: 

“ Let’s go straight over to the other vessel 1 
Perhaps father has fixed some way for us to get 


THE NEWS ITEM 145 

back, and we ought to know about it as soon as 
possible ! ” 

“I’ll help you row, Joe!” Tommy shouted. 
“ I never tried my hand at it when the waves 
were so big; but I’ve pulled a boat many a time 
when we’ve been in Atlantic City.” 

“ I thought you fellers would get woke up after 
a spell I ” Master Babbidge said gleefully. “ Now 
you see what might’er been done if you hadn’t 
been so keen to go off with old Moses an’ leave 
me alone. But I hain’t certain as I shall go.” 

“ What kind of a game is that to play? ” Mr. 
Gunn asked sharply as he turned upon Joe. “ It 
don’t stand to reason that the General Grant 
brought any word for these lads; but you’ve got 
’em all haired up ’bout it now, an’ they’ve the 
same as got to go! ” 

“ S’posen I’ve changed my mind, an’ don’t 
want to pull a dory so far?” Master Babbidge 
asked sulkily. 

“ You ain’t the only pebble on this ’ere craft,” 
the cook replied angrily, moving toward the com- 
panionway as if to ascend. “ I’d take ’em over 
myself if I didn’t have bread to make; but I 
reckon Jimmy Brown won’t begrudge a little extry 
work after you’ve put sich a foolish notion inter 
the lads’ heads.” 

“ Hold on, Abe ! ” Joe cried in alarm, as the 


146 TWO STOWAWAYS 

cook began to ascend the stairs. “ It ain’t cer- 
tain but I’ll go after all, so you needn’t be stickin’ 
your oar in ! ” 

“ If you’re goin’, get a move on, ’stead of set- 
tin’ there hectorin’ a couple of boys who’re tryin’ 
to make the best of the bad bargain you led ’em 
inter. If you don’t I’ll speak to Jimmy, an’ then 
they’ll go without yer.” 

“ All right. I’ll go,” Master Babbidge cried 
sulkily, and it could easily be seen that he was 
disappointed at being thus deprived of the oppor- 
tunity to keep his “ guests ” longer in suspense. 

Sam and Tommy would have gone on deck 
without delay, so eager were they to get the mes- 
sage which they had come to believe was awaiting 
them ; but Abraham literally forced them to finish 
the long-delayed meal, declaring that he would ap- 
peal to the captain if they “ dared to move a fin- 
ger till after they had put a solid linin’ on their 
ribs.” 

Joe had emerged from his fit of sulks by the 
time his “ guests ” were ready to accompany him, 
and within five minutes after Mr. Gunn had given 
his permission for them to rise from the table, the 
three were in one of the dories headed for the 
General Grant, 

Master Babbidge positively refused Tommy’s 
offers of assistance, declaring that if he couldn’t 


THE NEWS ITEM 147 

pull a dory in a dead calm he would “ boil his 
head,” and rather than allow anything so dread- 
ful as that to be done, the lads from Philadelphia 
remained idle while Joe tugged at the heavy oars, 
showing beyond the shadow of a doubt that he 
was capable of managing the boat, at least while 
all the weather conditions were favorable. 

The stowaways were so eager to get the mes- 
sage which it seemed positive their parents had 
sent, and so deeply engaged in speculating upon 
the substance of it, that they had no inclination 
for conversation. Master Babbidge, failing to 
engage their attention so far as would induce them 
to enter into any discussion, set about spinning the 
wildest and weirdest tales of the sea as he pulled 
at the oars, and great was his disappointment at 
not being able to excite the surprise or fears of 
his dory mates. 

After it seemed to the impatient boys as if the 
voyage had been prolonged throughout one entire 
day, when as a matter of fact no more than half 
an hour had elapsed, the dory was brought along- 
side the General Grant, and Sam and Tommy 
actually held their breath in suspense when Joe 
hailed the master of the schooner: 

“Ahoy Cap’in EphI What’s the news? ” 

“ You folks ought’er know as much ’bout what’s 
goin’ on as we do, seein’s the General left port 


148 TWO STOWAWAYS 

next mornin’ after you sailed,” was the reply in 
an indifferent tone, as if “ Cap’in Eph ” was not 
overly eager to entertain visitors. “ We’ve got 
a Portland paper, if that’s what you’re after.” 

‘‘ Didn’t you bring a letter or anythin’ for these 
fellers?” and Joe waved his hand toward his 
“ guests.” 

“ We ain’t carryin’ the mail this season,” was 
the curt reply. “ Here’s the paper, if you want 
it,” and the master of the General Grant tossed 
into the dory a much soiled newspaper. 

Sam seized it eagerly, and while Master Bab- 
bidge continued his efforts to enlist the friendly 
attention of “ Cap’in Eph,” the homesick stow- 
away searched with his eyes every printed line in 
the hope of — he knew not what. 

Before Master Babbidge had begun to despair 
of receiving an invitation to visit the General 
Grant, Sam found that which caused his face to 
first flush and then pale. 

“Oh, Tommy, Tommy! Listen to this! Our 
parents couldn’t have got the letter we sent ! ” and, 
without waiting for a reply, he read the following 
in a voice choking with sobs, while the tears slowly 
trickled down his cheeks: 


“ Messrs. Harriman & Chesley, the well-known 
bankers of Philadelphia, who are at present in 


THE NEWS ITEM 149 

this city, having halted here to break the journey 
to Bar Harbor, are in great mental distress owing 
to the singular and unaccountable disappearance 
of their sons, Samuel and Thomas. 

“ The boys left the Lafayette Hotel yesterday 
morning for a stroll through the city, and since 
that time nothing has been heard or seen of them. 
In fact, they disappeared most mysteriously im- 
mediately after gaining the open air, and despite 
the searching inquiries which have been made, no 
person can be found who saw them on the streets. 

“The authorities have been notified; a hand-, 
some reward will be offered for information which 
can aid in the search, and already have telegrams 
been sent to intercept the trains which left the city 
after they went out of the hotel, in the hope that 
they may have set off on some short excursion. It 
is needless to say that the parents of the missing 
boys are in great distress of mind.” ^ 


CHAPTER XIV 
Mr. Salterns Secret 

Perhaps Master Babbldge had never been 
more surprised in his life than at the sudden 
change which came over his “ guests ” after Sam 
had read the brief newspaper paragraph, concern- 
ing the “ unaccountable disappearance.” To Joe’s 
mind the name of Captain Ben Babbidge was a 
familiar one in every household, and since Messrs. 
Chesley and Harriman knew that their sons had 
sailed with the most successful and most skillful 
banker sailing out of Portland, what more was to 
be said? 

“ I don’t see what has struck you fellers,” he 
said in what was probably intended to be a sooth- 
ing tone. “You’re here, an’ your folks know all 
about it, so what have they got to kick about? 
There ain’t a man in the State of Maine but can 
tell ’em you couldn’t be in a better place than 
right where you are.” 

“ But they don’t know where we are,” Sam 
wailed. “ This pap.er says they’re telegraphing 
all around, thinking we may have gone away on 
some train,” and Tommy added, as he turned 
fiercely upon Master Babbidge: 

150 


MR. SALTER’S SECRET 15 1 
“You didn’t send the letter we wrote; that’s 
what’s the matter! After telling us what wasn’t 
true about stowing away, you wouldn’t even take 
the trouble to do as you had promised I ” 

“ See here, now I ” and Joe half rose to his feet 
as if anger was rapidly getting the better of him. 
“ After all I’ve done for you fellers, you don’t 
want to make any sich talk as that to me, for 
there’ll be a heap of trouble right here! I put 
your bloomin’ letter in the box. Do you think 
I wanted to carry around sich a thing as that? 
When I start out to do a thing, I do it right ! ” 

“ If you mailed the letter, what’s the meaning 
of this? ” and Sam struck with his finger the ar- 
ticle in the newspaper which he had just been 
reading. 

“ How do you s’pose I know? I ain’t got any- 
thin’ to do with the Portland newspapers, have I ? 
Are you countin’ on shiftin’ all the blame off on 
to me if your folks don’t know how to read a 
letter? ” 

“ But they do know how ! ” Sam retorted as, in 
turn, he began to lose control of his temper. 
“ We wrote explaining just what was going to 
be done, and you said it would get to the hotel 
before night.” 

“ Before night? ” Master Babbidge shrieked as 
if beside himself with rage. “ What was to hin- 


152 TWO STOWAWAYS 

der it gettin’ there In half an hour? All them 
post office clerks had to do was to take it out an’ 
go up to the hotel with it. I could have done 
that much in ten minutes myself, an’ not been very 
keen at the business even then.” 

. “ What’s all that row about? ” Captain Dodge 
asked as he leaned over the rail, now grown curi- 
ous concerning those who had come from the 
Ellen Maria. “ I allers allowed you would go 
wrong some day, Joe Babbldge, you’re so all-fired 
smart — or think you are. If you have been cuttin’ 
any monkey shines with letters what belong In the 
United States mail. It’s a mighty serious matter, 
let me tell you, an’ stands to cost your father 
more’n he can earn in two seasons of the luckiest 
fishin’ he ever struck.” 

“Who’s been cuttin’ monkey shines?” Master 
Babbldge cried, and because Captain Dodge had 
spoken so gravely It began to seem as If he might 
unwittingly have committed some act which would 
bring him Into difficulties with the Government. 
“ I put a letter Inter the post office box for these 
’ere chumps, an’ that’s all there was to It. You 
ain’t got any call to say you knowed I’d get Inter 
trouble, ’cause I’ve never had any truck with you, 
an’ what’s more, I don’t want any.” 

With this Master Babbldge seized the oars, 
which for the moment he had allowed to fall from 


MR. SALTER’S SECRET 153 
his hands, and began pulling with feverish eager- 
ness away from the General Grant, as if believing 
his safety depended upon putting the greatest pos- 
sible distance between himself and Captain Dodge 
In the least possible time. 

As he thus strained every muscle In the effort 
to gain his father’s schooner, Tommy and Sam, 
too nearly overwhelmed by this blow to give 
further words to their grief and disappointment, 
sat staring mutely Into each other’s faces, heeding 
not the fact that big salt tears were rolling down 
their cheeks, and thinking only of the sorrow 
which they had caused those whom they loved. 
Even though they had not previously suffered be- 
cause of stowing away on board the Ellen Maria, 
they were severely punished for their misdoings 
during the short time which elapsed before the 
dory was once more alongside Captain Ben’s 
schooner. 

How disagreeable everything looked when the 
lads came over the rail I It was much like enter- 
ing a prison, and a very dirty one at that, as, un- 
able to speak because of the grief in their hearts, 
they sought the poor refuge of the forepeak, 
eager to shut out, so far as might be possible, 
everything connected with the business of fish-' 
Ing. 

Moses Salter was standing well aft when Joe and 


154 TWO STOWAWAYS 

his “ guests ” came alongside, and seeing the dis- 
tress on the faces of the lads from Philadelphia, 
which was so great that it could not have been hid- 
den even from the most careless observer, asked 
in a low tone of Master Babbidge: 

‘‘What has been goin’ wrong, Joe? After en- 
ticin’ them boys aboard have you been roughin’ 
inter ’em? ” 

“ Roughin’ nothin’ ! ” Master Babbidge cried 
Irritably. “ If all the fellers from Philadelphy 
are like them, I’m hopin’ I shan’t see any more, 
’cause they’re worse than a two-weeks baby! 
They’ve gone inter the forepeak, an’ I hope they’ll 
stay there the rest of this cruise.” 

“ Look here, Joseph, don’t you get gay with 
me I ” Mr. Salter said sternly, as he seized the 
lad by the shirt collar in order to hold his attention 
strictly to the subject under discussion. “ What 
did you do to the boys, or what turned up wrong 
while you was in the dory?” 

“ I didn’t do anythin’, I tell yer ! They read 
some fool thing in the paper ’bout their folks 
shinnyin’ all over the country huntin’ for ’em, an’ 
then turned on me, allowin’ I hadn’t put the 
letter inter the post office box. Of course that 
haired me up considerable, seein’s how my end of 
the business was put through all right, an’ I told 
’em some little bit of what I thought.” 


MR. SALTER’S SECRET 155 
“What paper are you talkin’ ’bout, Joseph? 
Where did they get any paper? ” 

“ Cap’in Eph ’lowed we might want’er see the. 
news, so he chucked us one when we rowed along- 
side the General Grant. It’s down there in the 
dory now,” Master Babbidge replied as he looked 
over the rail, and Mr. Salter leaped into the boat, 
taking up the printed sheet which had fallen from 
Sam’s hands after he read that which caused him 
and his cousin so much distress of mind. 

Moses Salter was ever ready to confess that 
“ readin’ didn’t come easy to him,” and several 
moments elapsed before he could thoroughly mas- 
ter the meaning of the news item concerning the 
“unaccountable disappearance”; but once he had 
done so, his course of action was decided upon. 

“ Poor little shavers ! ” he said half to himself 
as he clambered on board the schooner again, and, 
giving no heed to Joe’s eager questions, descended 
the companionway to find Captain Ben poring over 
a nautical almanac not less than three years old. 

“What’s up, Moses?” the commander of the 
Ellen Maria asked quickly, noting the expression 
on the old man’s face. 

“ Them ’ere little stowaways of our’n are get- 
tin’ it a good deal worse’n we allowed, Cap’in Ben, 
an’ I’m reckonin’ it’s our bounden duty to ease up 
on ’em a bit. Read that,” and the old sailor 


1 5 6 TWO STOWAWAYS 

handed the newspaper to his superior officer. 
“ The boys got it from the General Grant, an’ it 
ain’t to be wondered at that it’s causin’ ’em a good 
bit of trouble.” 

Captain Ben read the paragraph carefully, and 
after looking at the date of the publication, said, 
as if to his mind there was no reason for anxiety 
or comment: 

“ That ’ere was printed before the folks in 
Portland got our letter by telegraph. They got 
the whole story ’bout the time this paper was ready 
to be sold, so it’s all right. Now they know where 
the boys are, an’ most likely feel like thankin’ us 
for the trouble we’ve taken, which is no more’n 
fair, seein’s how we’ve done the best we could, 
which is a good deal more’n some others would 
have tackled.” 

“ Yes, yes, that part of it is all right, Ben,” 
Mr. Salter said impatiently. “ I ain’t thinkin’ of 
them as are in Portland; but of our poor little 
shavers here. They’re gettin’ it mighty rough, 
considerin’ as how it ain’t likely either one of ’em 
ever lived in this kind of a fashion before, an’ it 
ain’t Christian-like for us to let ’em eat their 
hearts out, as they’re liable to do ’twixt now an’ 
the time we make port again.” 

“ What’er you drivin’ at, Moses?” Captain 
Ben asked impatiently. “ I don’t seem to get the 


MR. SALTER’S SECRET 157 
drift of it, an’ if it’s all the same to you, why not 
come out jest the least little bit plainer, so’s I’ll 
have the chance to ketch an idee.” 

“ Why, what I want’er do is to tell ’em that 
everythin’ is all right — let ’em know we fixed 
things on the telegraph wires back there to Booth- 
bay, an’ that their folks ain’t fussin’ any more ’cause 
of what they’ve done. I’ll guarantee they won’t 
stow away agin, even if we should do our best 
from this out to make things comfortable for 
’em.” 

“ Wa’al, I don’t know as I’ve got any reason 
to say ‘ no ’ to that idee. All we’ve set out for is 
to give the boys sich a lesson as’ll keep ’em from 
ever hankerin’ after runnin’ away agin, an’ if you 
think the dose is heavy enough already, go ahead 
an’ give up the whole secret.” 

Mr. Salter did not loiter after having thus re- 
ceived permission from his superior officer to do 
as he wished. With all speed he made his way 
to the forepeak, where he found the unhappy 
stowaways lying on the lumpy bed clasped in each 
other’s arms, and giving full -sway to their grief. 

Under almost any other circumstances the old 
sailor might have delayed giving the information 
which would be so welcome, in order that the les- 
son he and Captain Ben wished to teach would 
be more effective ; but their grief was so great that 


158 TWO STOWAWAYS 

he had not the heart to prolong it, therefore he 
said abruptly, as he laid his hand on Sam’s shoul- 
der in an awkward caress: 

“ I’ve seen that ’ere story in the newspaper you 
got aboard the General Grant, an’ don’t blame 
you for bein’ so kind’er broke up about it. Cap’in 
Ben an’ me was allowin’ that after havin’ run 
away from the folks who had most like given you 
all that was goin’ in this world, the stiffest kind 
of a stiff lesson was what you needed so’s the trick 
wouldn’t be played agin’. An’ I reckon you’ve 
got about as much as we believed you ought’er 
have, so I’m goin’ to set your minds at rest by 
tellin’ you as how as your folks know jest where 
you are, an’ ain’t worryin’ a little bit ’bout yer.” 

“ But they don’t know where we are,” Tommy 
wailed. “ The newspaper says that they think, 
perhaps, we went away on some train, and it’s 
certain mother is just about crying her eyes out. 
If I ever see her again she shall believe that this 
is the last time I will ever be so mean ! ” 

“ But she knows where you are now, lad, an’ 
I’m givin’ you my word for it. Why do I figger 
that she knows? ’Cause the night after we left 
port, while you were asleep down here, what was 
Cap’in Ben Babbidge an’ me doin’? Why we was 
tryin’ to fix it so’s your folks wouldn’t have sich 
a hard time. An’ how did we fix it? Why the 
Ellen Maria was hove to off Boothbay, an’ I went 


MR. SALTER’S SECRET 159 
ashore myself, so’s to send a letter over the 
telegraph.” 

“Did you tell father where we were?” Sam 
asked with a gasp. 

“ Of course I did, sonny, an’ allowed as how 
we’d put you ashore inter Bar Harbor as soon as 
you’d got what we reckoned was a full dose of 
fishin’.” 

“ Then why did the paper say that nobody knew 
where we were? ” 

“ ’Cause when that ’ere story come out they 
hadn’t had time to know. You see, I didn’t get 
hold of the man what runs the telegraph till ’long 
’bout midnight, an’, of course, the newspaper peo- 
ple had told their story before then, even though 
it didn’t get ’round the city till mornin’. I saw to 
it, though it went terribly agin the grain of the 
telegraph man, that the news was shoved right 
through before sunrise, an’ if you don’t want to 
take my word for it that your folks know the 
whole story, go aft an’ ask Cap’in Ben. He’ll tell 
you a straight yarn.” 

Much to the old man’s surprise, it was as if the 
grief of the boys increased even while he was try- 
ing to lessen it, and he stood gazing at them in 
helpless perplexity as, clasped in each other’s arms, 
they gave way to a fresh outburst of what had 
every appearance of sorrow. 


CHAPTER XV 
In the Fog 

Mr. Salter stood looking down upon the 
weeping boys with an expression of bewilderment 
on his face. He had expected the grief would be 
changed to joy immediately he informed them 
that their parents were, beyond a peradventure, 
acquainted with their whereabouts, and in such a 
manner that no serious anxiety could be felt con- 
cerning them. Instead, however, it was as if the 
divulging of his secret had plunged them into yet 
greater grief, and he failed to understand the 
meaning thereof. 

While one might have counted twenty he re- 
mained silent and motionless, as if racking his 
brain to know exactly what course should be pur- 
sued, and, failing in coming to any definite con- 
clusion, said in a tone of perplexity: 

“ I declare for it, lads, you beat my time cut 
an’ out. It must be you’ve got somethin’ more 
on your minds than I had any idee of, else why 
Is it you take on so keen when you know things 
are as nigh right with your folks as they can be? 

I was allowin’ that by my holdin’ back the fact 
i6o 


IN THE FOG i6i 

of what was done in Boothbay, you would be get- 
tin’ considerable more of a lesson in this business 
of stowin’ away, whereas it seems as if you’d be 
kind’er relieved if your folks didn’t know quite 
so much.” 

“ It isn’t that at all, Mr. Salter,” Tommy said, 
looking up at the old sailor with a smile on his 
face even while the tears were flowing freely. “ I 
wasn’t crying because I felt badly; but somehow, 
when I know that mother and father had got over 
worrying because of the telegram you sent, the 
tears just had to come. It was because I was glad, 
not sorry, and yet — -I don’t know how to explain 
it; but all of you aboard the Ellen Maria have 
been a good deal more kind to Sam and me than 
we deserved, and perhaps that had something to 
do with our last fit of crying. When we talked 
about stowing away Joe made it appear as if we 
would only be gone a day or two, and neither of 
us realized how much trouble we would be making 
for our parents ; but we know all about it now, and 
you can be certain we’ll never do such a thing 
again.” 

“ Wa’al, lad. I’m allowin’ you have caused your 
folks more worry than you had any right; but 
p’rhaps this has been a good lesson for yer. It 
don’t stand to reason an old moss-back like me, 
who never had any book lamin’ an’ wouldn’t 


1 62 TWO STOWAWAYS 

know enough to go in out’er the rain if he hadn’t 
been caught in a shower two or three times, has 
a right to say very much, except in the way of 
fishin’, to two boys like you, who most likely know 
all there is in books, an’ have lived in a different 
world, so to speak, from what I ever saw. But 
I’m goin’ to take it on myself to remind you of 
what you’re owin’ them as you ran away from. 
They’ve given you everythin’ you’ve had to eat, 
or to drink, or to wear, since you was born; 
they’ve looked after you like you was eggs, for 
fear somethin’ might hurt yer, or make yer feel 
bad, an’ they’ve spent — more especially your 
mother has — a good portion of her time coddlin’ 
you up. An’ all that h'as been goin’ on for ten or 
a dozen years. By this time you’re so much in 
debt to her that you never can pay it ; but yet you 
keep on addin’ to the bill, instead of tryin’ to 
square it up. Most likely you’ve got it in your 
mind that your folks are bound to do everythin’ 
they can for yer, whereas there’s thousands an’ 
thousands of lads that don’t come within four 
years of bein’ as old as you, who have to earn 
their own livin’, an’ help others besides. If, for 
the rest of the time you’re aboard the Ellen Maria, 
you’d like to think these things over, it won’t do 
any harm, an’ I’m allowin’ it would be to some ad- 
vantage.” 


IN THE FOG 163 

Having thus read the stowaways a lesson which 
he believed was the natural sequel to the good 
news he had imparted, Mr. Salter turned to leave 
the forepeak, but before he could do so Tommy 
had taken both the old man’s hands in his, as he 
said in a tone, the sincerity of which could not be 
mistaken : 

“ You have been mighty good to us, and mustn’t 
think we don’t appreciate it because we can’t talk 
very much. To thank you wouldn’t be enough, 
and for my part I don’t know how to say anything 
different; but we’ll show you and Captain Ben, 
as well as the rest of the crew, that we understand 
how much we owe you all, and I’ll never forget 
what you have said about my duty to mother and 
father.” 

“ There, there, sonny, don’t make mountains 
out’er molehills. Things are as we’ve made ’em, 
up to this p’int, an’ now we’ll take a fresh start, 
so to speak. There’s no need of strainin’ yourself 
tryin’ to do more’n a lad’s share; but of course 
you’re expected to turn to with the rest of us, 
’cause we bankers can’t afford to idle away , the 
time, an’ don’t allow to have aboard the kind of 
cats that won’t ketch rats.” 

Then the old man went out of the forepeak, 
looking much as if matters had progressed to his 
entire satisfaction, and ten minutes later the stow- 


1 64 TWO STOWAWAYS 

aways also appeared on deck, their eyes red and 
swollen from much weeping, but otherwise ap- 
pearing reasonably cheerful. 

“ Wa’al, got over your fit, have yer? Or do you 
still want’er make a row ’bout what I have or 
haven’t done? ” Master Babbidge asked in an 
ironical tone, giving every evidence of his willing- 
ness to continue what, while they were in the dory, 
had seemed much like a quarrel. 

“We were more to blame for the stowing 
away than you, Joe,” Sam replied in a friendly 
tone. “ When we read that story in the news- 
paper it seemed as if everything had gone to 
smash, and very likely we said what should not 
have been spoken.” 

“ Oh, cornin’ ’round to find out that you’d bet- 
ter curry favor with me than old Mose, eh? 
What’s he been doin’ ? Roughin’ inter you pretty 
strong? ” 

“ Mr. Salter has been very kind, and I hope 
we shall be able to show him that we are thankful, 
before we get a chance to leave this vessel.” 

Having said this, and fearing to linger longer 
near Master Babbidge lest he should continue in 
his unpleasant mood, the stowaways went amid- 
ships where two or three of the crew were making 
ready to run trawls, and there strove to do whatso- 
ever they might in the way of assisting. 


IN THE FOG 


165 

Later in the day, when dory after dory came 
alongside laden with silvery fish which had been 
taken from the trawls, the lads from Philadelphia 
stood by to do their share of the work in taking 
them aboard, and as each boat was unloaded they 
voluntarily did their part toward cleaning it up, 
by scrubbing the sides, bottom and thwarts to re- 
move the blood and gurry. 

Then came the dressing-down, when all hands, ' 
including the stowaways, worked as they had on 
the previous day; but this time the hearts of the 
lads from Philadelphia were very light, for the 
greater portion of their mental burden had been 
removed, and it was possible for them, to take 
pride in the size of the “ catch,” knowing as they 
did that each fish taken brought them just so much 
nearer the time when they might say to their par- 
ents the words of contrition which were in their 
hearts. 

Before the labor of dressing-down had come to 
an end there was a decided change in the weather 
which was by no means agreeable to the crew of 
the Ellen Maria, as could be seen by the expression 
of anxiety which gradually came over their faces. 

The air had suddenly become chilly; far away 
to the eastward Sam and Tommy had observed 
what seemed like heavy gray clouds lying close 
upon the surface of the water, and coming nearer 


1 66 TWO STOWAWAYS 

and nearer each moment; but they gave no par- 
ticular heed to the change until it was as if sud- 
denly the schooner had become enveloped in a 
dense fog. 

“ I reckon one of our new hands can tackle the 
horn an’ make a better fist at it than in passin’ 
fish,” Captain Ben said when it was impossible 
to see the full length of the Ellen Marta in either 
direction because of the dense vapor. “ Joe, give 
one of your chums a taste of what’s cornin’ to ’em 
the best part of the time while we’re on the 
banks.” 

Then, while Tommy was trying to understand 
the meaning of this last command, Joe thrust into 
his hands a huge tin horn, saying as he did so : 

“ You’re to keep that a-tootin’ the best you 
know how till word is passed for somebody to 
spell yer.” 

“What’s the sense of it?” Tommy asked in 
surprise, and Master Babbidge replied curtly, for 
he had not yet recovered from the ill-humor which 
had been caused by the idea that his “ guests ” 
had not shown him proper attention: 

“ I reckon you’ll find out if one of them ’ere 
ocean liners comes stormin’ along. They don’t 
make any great account of fishermen, an’ I could 
name a dozen good craft that have been cut down 
by ’em, sendin’ all hands to the bottom.” 


IN THE FOG 167 

Tommy was not exactly certain he understood 
that which Master Babbldge had said; but the 
words had been spoken in a sepulchral tone, which 
gave the impression that something horrible might 
happen if he failed to “ keep the horn a-tootin.” 

Sam was waiting on Mr. Salter, and while 
Tommy made the most dismal noise imaginable 
with that long cone of tin. Master Chesley asked 
why it was necessary to thus make the night 
hideous. 

“ You see, lad,” old Moses said, working even 
more rapidly, if that could be possible, while he 
talked, “ we bankers are in the track of all the 
big steamers that come to this country, an’ seein’s 
how we’re helpless here, not able to see a hand’s 
breadth either way, it comes mighty awkward 
when one of them iron tanks storms down on yer, 
‘ for once a craft like this is struck by ’em it’s like 
puttin’ an ax through a sheet of paper. The only 
way we have of defendin’ ourselves is by kickin’ 
up so much of a row that they’ll know somethin’s 

in the road. I’ve heard ” 

Mr. Salter ceased working and speaking very 
suddenly, as did all the others of the crew, and as 
Sam looked around curiously to make out what 
had caused this sudden cessation of activity, he 
could distinguish amid the swish of the waves and 
the whistling of the wind through the rigging, a 


1 68 TWO STOWAWAYS 

strange splashing sound, such as he had never 

heard since coming aboard the Ellen Maria. 

It was as if some huge beast was floundering 
and splashing close at hand, and would not have 
been to him fearsome but for the fact that he saw 
even through the gray vapor which enveloped 
everything, the greatest alarm written on every 
face within his limited range of vision. 

Almost at the same moment this noise was 
heard, Jimmy Brown sprang forward, seizing the 
horn from Tommy’s hand, and began blowing on 
it at the full strength of his lungs, while Captain 
Ben, leaping on the rail near the after shrouds, 
shouted “Ahoy! Ahoy there! ” as if he had sud- 
denly gone daft. 

The stowaways were yet in a maze of bewilder- 
ment, understanding nothing whatsoever of the 
situation until, like a phantom, there appeared 
through the fog twinkling lights, and, imme- 
diately following, a huge, dark, mountain-like 
mass, which towered far above the schooner, seem- 
ingly about to overwhelm her. 

Then could be discerned the shape of an im- 
mense vessel, while the splashing and churning of 
the water sounded close aboard. 

In a twinkling every man sprang toward the 
rail where the dories were made fast alongside, 
and the boys from Philadelphia knew that that 


IN THE FOG 169 

danger of which Master Babbidge and Mr. Sal- 
ter had spoken was close upon them. 

There seemed to be no way of escape, and yet 
when the huge hulk was apparently so near that 
one could stretch out his hand and touch it, the 
threatening mass swerved sharply to port, gliding 
past so close aboard that the Ellen Maria tossed 
and plunged as if a tempest had suddenly arisen, 
while the glare of lights from every port-hole and 
deck-window shone out bright and cheery, in w^on- 
derful contrast with the desolation which would 
have been wrought but for that sudden sheer 
which the enormous bulk had made. 

Then, swiftly, the dark form was merged into 
the gray of the vapor; the lights were shut out 
from view; the noise as of splashing and churning 
died away in the distance, and Mr. Salter said with 
a long-drawn breath of relief as he laid his hand 
on Sam’s head: 

“ My boy, God has been good to us I Though 
you live to be a hundred years old you’ll never 
again come so near death, an’ be missed by it, as 
you have been in these last thirty seconds I ” 


CHAPTER XVI 
An Idle Hour 

Moses Salter was not only the only member 
of the Ellen Maria’s crew who felt deeply thank- 
ful to his Maker for the escape from the peril 
just past. 

Every person aboard, from Captain Ben to Joe 
Babbidge, with the exception, of course, of Sam 
and Tommy, knew how near they had been to 
death wh|n the huge ocean liner came out of the 
fog directly upon them, for there was never one 
among the crew who could not recall the memory 
of relatives or acquaintances who had lost their 
lives by being cut down on the banks, and all 
realized fully the danger which hung over them 
by day as well as by night when the fog shrouded 
the face of the sea. 

Therefore it was that the nature of every mem- 
ber of the crew had seemingly been changed in 
that one short moment of deadly peril. Twenty 
seconds before the churning and thumping sounds 
had been heard, there was a jest and a laugh, 
or a careless word, on the lips of every one. Im- 
mediately the monster of steel had been lost to 
view in the fog, and the terror which had taken 


AN IDLE HOUR 17 1 

possession of all was overcome, there was appar- 
ent a certain thoughtfulness — seriousness, in strik- 
ing contrast to what had preceded those few 
seconds of peril. 

In silence, save for the tooting of the horn 
which Jimmy Brown had given back to Tommy, 
the work of dressing-down was finished, and then, 
instead of leaving to the boys the task of cleaning 
the decks, all the crew lent a hand until the work 
was done, when, as if by common consent, the men 
and Joe started aft. 

The stowaways, who were not so fully sensible 
of the narrowness of the escape as were the fisher- 
men, and therefore failed of being so deeply im- 
pressed, were at a loss to understand the real rea- 
son for the silence and the unusua¥ demeanor of 
the crew, therefore, when, without speaking, all 
went below, Sam and Tommy turned to go into the 
forepeak, but were stopped by Moses Salter, who 
said in a grave tone, such as one uses when speak- 
ing in the presence of the dead: 

“ Come aft, lads, an’ we’ll all mug up. This 
ain’t jest the night for turnin’ in alone. We’re 
needin’ to be livened a bit.” 

“ Knowing that we have got through dressing- 
down for a while ought to make us quite lively,” 
Sam replied, not knowing what else to say, and 
the old sailor wheeled about to face the lad. 


172 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ I’m allowin’ you don’t fully take in how nigh 
a shave we had, an’ of course it ain’t reasonable 
for you to feel as the rest of us do. I had a 
brother who left Orr’s Island in a new schooner, 
an’ was never heard from agin ; there hadn’t been 
any bad weather to speak of, so we knew that his 
craft was run down by jest sich an iron tank as 
gave us the slip by the breadth of a hair. Two 
mates of mine that I’d sailed with many a year, 
went the same way, an’ I could tell of a dozen 
I’ve known to speak with, whose bones are layin’ 
on these ’ere shoals through their vessels havin’ 
been in the track of some big craft on a foggy day 
or night. An’ I ain’t the only one aboard the Ellen 
Maria who gets to thinkin’ of them things at sich 
a time, for all hands of us can tell pretty nigh 
the same story. Besides, we know that it’s no two 
to one we won’t meet with the same fate ourselves 
’twixt now an’ snow flies. Come aft, lads, an’ 
we’ll mug up.” 

Without further hesitation the stowaways fol- 
lowed the old sailor who had shown himself so 
good a friend, and when they descended the com- 
panionway into the little cabin lined on either side 
with bunks, and lighted only by a single swinging 
lamp, it looked wonderfully bright and snug in 
contrast with the grayness outside wherein lurked 
so many dangers which could not be guarded 


r' AN IDLE HOUR 173 

against. The men were standing while Abraham 
Gunn filled for each a mug of steaming coffee, and 
not until all had been served did any one venture 
to drink the welcome beverage. 

Then it was done in silence, never a man speak- 
ing until the last mug had been emptied and Abra- 
hanr\ ,had begun to refill them, when Captain Ben 
said,’' speaking not as the master of a vessel, but 
rather as a shipmate: 

“ I’m allowin’ we’ll make it turn an’ turn about 
on half-hour stretches to-night, seein’s how there 
ain’t any of us feelin’ overly perky, an’ it’s for the 
crew of Number i dory to start the trick. Who 
goes? ” 

“ I’ll try my hand at it first,” Jimmy Brown 
said, for he and Moses Salter were the dorymen 
to whom the captain had referred, and even as he 
spoke he went up the companionway, Sam and 
Tommy hearing an instant later the long screech 
of the tin horn, thereby understanding that it 
would be the duty of some one member of the 
crew to keep that unmelodious instrument sound- 
ing while the Ellen Maria was enshrouded in 
fog. 

It seemed much as if the noise of the horn, dis- 
cordant though it was, served to revive the spirits 
of the men, for immediately the air of restraint 
began to wear away; one after another seated him- 


174 TWO STOWAWAYS 

self on a locker, or stretched out at full length 

in a bunk; Abraham Gunn commenced to grumble 

because of waiting upon the crew whfen it was the 

custom for them to pour their own coffee, and, 

as the moments passed, a general conversation was 

started. 

One man, whom the stowaways afterwards came 
to know as a native of Isle au Haut, began to tell 
a story concerning the Mary Baker when she was 
cut down by the Allan Liner Canada and he, with 
a mate, were the only persons who escaped a wa- 
tery grave; but Captain Ben cried peremptor- 
ily: 

“We’ll have no yarns like that to-night! It 
comes too nigh the heart, so to speak. If it’s a 
case of waggin’ your tongues, let it be of somethin’ 
as far from a sitooation like this as you can get it. 
Talk of layin’ in a snug harbor, or of bringin’ a 
fare inter port when the prices are way up — 
somethin’ cheerful. An’ you may give me another 
mug of that ’ere coffee, Abe.” 

Then the men fell to spinning yarns quite as 
wild and improbable as those Master Babbidge 
had spun when the stowaways set out for the Gen- 
eral Grant. By Moses Salter’s invitation, which 
was much the same as a command, the lads from 
Philadelphia curled themselves up on one of the 
lockers, enjoying the warmth of the fire after hav- 


AN IDLE HOUR 175 

Ing been so long on deck in the heavy fog, and 
Sam whispered to his cousin, when he could do so 
without seeming to interrupt the story-telling: 

“ This is the first time since we started out to 
stowaway that I have even had an imitation of 
being comfortable,” and Tommy replied: 

“ It makes a big difference now that we are cer- 
tain our parents know where we are, and will not 
be worrying about us. I’m not ready to say that 
I ever want to go on a fishing cruise again ; but at 
the same time I wouldn’t wonder if we got some 
little pleasure out of this one, after all.” 

Sam did not venture to make a reply, for at this 
moment Moses Salter yielded to the entreaties of 
his mates to tell again the story of the Greyhound, 
which craft put out from Bath after mackerel, and 
landed a cargo in Boston within seventy-two hours, 
thereby netting each member of the crew, owing 
to the high price of fish, nearly three hundred 
dollars, and he was still describing the “ royal 
time ” they had while in port, when everyone was 
startled by hearing Jimmy Brown shout, as if hail- 
ing a craft: 

“Ahoy! Who are you? What ’er you doin’ 
out in this smother at sich a time of night? ” 

Sam and Tommy sprang to their feet in alarm, 
for it seemed positive that the Ellen Maria was 
again in danger of being run down; but their fears 


176 TWO STOWAWAYS 

were allayed immediately by the manner in which 
the others apparently looked upon this unexpected 
intimation that some craft was near at hand. 

“ I’m allowin’ Cap’in Eph’s strainin’ himself 
so hard to get a fare aboard before we can, that 
all hands are runnin’ trawls in the night, an’ most 
likely goin’ to sleep while they’re dressin’-down,” 
Captain Ben said with a laugh, as he followed 
those who had begun to troop up the companion- 
way. 

The stowaways feeling that, because of their 
position on board the schooner, they must perforce 
give way to every one else, were the last to gain 
the deck, and because of such tardiness failed to 
hear whatsoever reply the newcomers might have 
made to the hail. That they had answered was 
apparent from Jimmy Brown’s remark when he 
shouted laughingly: 

“We aboard the Ellen Maria take time now 
an’ then to sleep. It ain’t as if we’d got to carry 
everythin’ away jest for the sake of makin’ port 
an hour or two earlier.” 

And Captain Ben said gleefully in a low tone to 
old Moses: 

“ What did I tell yer? It’s as true as preachin’ 
that Eph Dodge has got his crew out runnin’ 
trawls! He’ll make every man Jack of ’em strain 
himself to the breakin’ point, an’ take all the 


AN IDLE HOUR 177 

chances that are to be had on the banks, jest for 
the sake of heatin’ the Ellen MariaJ^ 

By this time the stowaways could hear the faint 
chug of oars in thole-pins, and, a few seconds la- 
ter, came the sound of voices in what was evi- 
dently intended to be a private discussion. 

Then came a sharp blow as the bow of a dory 
struck the Ellen Marians quarter, and three or 
four of the men ran aft to make the newcomer 
fast. 

Captain Ben stepped quickly to the rail, peering 
searchingly into the faces of the two men who 
came aboard as soon as their craft had been made 
fast, and, the scrutiny at an end, said as if in dis- 
appointment : 

“ I reckon I made a mistake. I was allowin’ 
you’d come from the General Grant; but there 
wouldn’t be any aboard her whose faces I can’t 
bring to mind.” 

“ She’s the craft we’ve been lookin’ for these 
last two hours,” the foremost of the men said 
wearily. 

“Ain’t you new to the banks? I don’t remem- 
ber ever seein’ you before.” 

“ We ain’t new to the banks; but we’re mighty 
strange to this ’ere Yankee way of fishin’. We 
come from Shediac — our schooner was lost last 
month — cut down off Quero — we were carried to 


178 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Boston, an’ the first chance we got to ship on any- 
thin’ like a decent lay was aboard the General 
Grant. I reckon blue-nose fishin’ is good enough 
for me after this, without tryin’ my hand agin 
under a Yankee skipper.” 

“What’s the matter, mate? What’s the mat- 
ter? ” Captain Ben asked heartily. “ A leetle put 
out, I reckon, over pullin’ ’round here in the fog, 
an’ I can’t say as I blame yer. Go down an’ mug 
up, an’ you’ll feel better. What time did you lose 
yourselves? This ’ere smother didn’t strike us 
till well to dark. You wasn’t out then, eh? ” 

“ No, we wasn’t out then,” the man replied ir- 
ritably, as he followed the captain down the com- 
panionway, and was in turn followed by his mate 
and all the crew of the Ellen Maria, save him 
whose duty it was to sound the horn. “ We didn’t 
get through dressin’-down till the smother was 
well on us; an’ then what does Cap’in Dodge do 
but say we must run trawls. Think of an honest 
man runnin’ trawls well nigh to midnight in a fog 
thick enough to choke him I ” 

“ I knew it! I knew it! ” Captain Ben cried in 
a tone very like that of triumph. “Your skipper 
has an idee that he’s goin’ to beat us out on this 
cruise, eh?” 

“ If this is the Ellen Maria, that’s what he’s 
got in mind,” one of the newcomers replied, and 


AN IDLE HOUR 179 

added in a more cheery tone after he had swal- 
lowed a full mug of streaming coffee at imminent 
danger of scalding himself. “ He’s agreed to give 
all hands two dollars apiece if the General Grant 
is tied up at the dock in Boston half an hour 
ahead of you. But he can keep his money, an* 
two dollars more of mine alongside it, before I’ll 
run trawls agin at sich a time as this ! ” 

Then the stranger and his mate held out their 
mugs to Mr. Gunn for the refilling, and Captain 
Ben cautiously beckoned Mr. Salter to follow 
him on deck, whereupon Master Babbidge, for- 
getting that he was not on the most friendly terms 
with his “guests,” whispered to them exultantly: 

“ Father’s got some scheme in his head for 
heatin’ out Cap’in Eph, an’ makin’ a fool of him, 
you see if he hasn’t! I tell you there’ll be fun 
’round here before a great while I ” 


CHAPTER XVII 
Fooling Captain Eph 

The lads from Philadelphia, having become 
considerably better acquainted with Master Bab- 
bidge than they were on that day when he induced 
them to stowaway aboard the Ellen Marta, put 
but little faith in his predictions concerning what it 
might be possible to do ; but in this particular they 
learned right soon that Joe had very good ideas 
as to the opportunities of such a cruise as they 
were then making. 

The men who had come up from out the very 
heart of the fog, as it were, finding a haven aboard 
the schooner at a time when there were many 
chances they might drift about all night, were 
seemingly in no haste to rejoin their rightful ship- 
mates. In fact, as it appeared to Sam and Tommy, 
they intended to remain where they were, at least 
until morning, and one could not well blame them 
for hesitating about venturing out in that smother, 
with the possibilities of again going astray. 

The crew of the Ellen Marta seemed to take 
it as a matter of course that their visitors would 
remain for a long while, and all hands had settled 

i8o 


FOOLING CAPTAIN EPH i8i 
down to a time of mugging-up and yarning, when 
Captain Ben, followed by Moses Salter, came 
down the companionway as if bent on business. 

There were others besides Master Babbidge 
who were inclined to think that the master of the 
Ellen Maria had a “ bee in his bonnet,” which 
had to do with the men so lately come aboard, 
and in an instant all eyes were turned toward him, 
while as if by common consent conversation ceased 
entirely. 

“ Now it’s cornin’,” Joe said gleefully, as he 
prodded Sam with his elbow. “ I ain’t got any idee 
of what may be in father’s mind; but you can set 
it down as a fact that there’s somethin’ sich as 
won’t work to the advantage of Cap’in Eph.” 

And this prediction also was verified very shortly 
afterwards, for Captain Ben, clearing his throat 
as a means of attracting attention, although his 
audience could not well have been more attentive, 
said to the newcomers in what he intended should 
be a careless tone, but which had underlying it a 
certain note of seriousness that could not be 
mistaken : 

“ Did I understand you to say that Cap’in Eph 
Dodge allowed to give each man of his crew two 
dollars in case the General Grant made port with 
a full fare of fish before the Ellen Maria did? ” 

“ That’s the offer he made before we’d got 


1 8 2 TWO STOWAWAYS 

abreast of Portland Head Light,” the elder of 

the two strangers replied. 

“ An’ you shipped with him on the reg’lar lay, 
I allow?” 

“That’s what we did, an’ it’s the last Yankee 
craft we’ll ever take a berth aboard.” 

“ Of course you’re allowin’ to finish out the sea- 
son, seein’s how it’s well along, so to speak? ” 

“Oh, yes; we can stand that much of it, I 
s’pose.” 

“ Wa’al, now, hark ye ! So long as you’re goin’ 
to fish for one season on a Yankee craft, I’m al- 
lowin’ you ain’t so much in love with Eph Dodge 
as to prevent you from goin’ aboard another ves- 
sel, if so be things were a leetle more’n equal, eh? ” 

“What’s that?” the second stranger asked 
quickly, and the crew of the Ellen Maria were 
listening with painful intentness, for it was evi- 
dent to all, even including the stowaways, that 
Captain Ben was not talking simply for the sake 
of multiplying words. 

“ I was thinkin’ if you could have as good a 
lay on some other craft as you had on the General^ 
an’ a leetle more, it wouldn’t go agin your grain 
to make a shift of quarters, would it, seein’s you 
don’t allow to fish aboard any Yankee craft very 
long?” 

“ If you mean by that to ask if we’re tied up 


FOOLING CAPTAIN EPH 183 
with Cap’in Ephraim Dodge, I’m free to tell you 
that we ain’t,” the elder of the strangers replied. 
“ We’ve got no love for him, an’ we only shipped 
from trip to trip.” 

“ An’ he’s drivin’ of yer pretty hard, eh ? ” 

“ It’s certain there won’t any moss grow on us 
from settin’ ’round idle.” 

“ Wa’al, look here; I’m a man of few words, 
an’ there’s no need of heatin’ ’bout the bush with 
this thing. I’ve got an offer to make, which, of 
course, you’re free to take, or leave, jest as best 
pleases you; but in case you don’t see fit to help 
out in the little scheme I’ve got in mind, I wouldn’t 
like to have it carried back to Cap’in Eph, ’cause 
it might make bad blood betwixt us. We’ve got 
a good set of boys here; all know each other, an’ 
have stuck together these last three years. They 
can tell you what kind of a craft the Ellen Maria 
is, an’ I’m offerin’ you the same lay, with an easier 
lookout, that you’ve got aboard the General, 
What’s more. I’ll give five dollars to every mem- 
ber of this ’ere crew, countin’ you in, if we tie up 
to Leavitt’s Wharf before the General Grant 
comes ’round Bug Light.” 

The men from Shediac hung in the wind a few 
seconds, while they looked around among the 
crew much as if trying to decide from the faces 
of those in the cabin what kind of shipmates they 


1 84 TWO STOWAWAYS 

might find on the Ellen Maria, and then the elder 
said hesitatingly, as if he was already half in- 
clined to accept the offer: 

“ I can’t figger how it could be done, seein’s 
we’ve got the GeneraVs dory with us.” 

“ If she’s all that stands in your way. I’ll soon 
set it right. As soon as this smother lets up, some 
of the boys can take your dory over to the Gen- 
eral, sayin’ she came swashin’ up alongside of us, 
an’ we made her fast, all of which is strictly the 
truth. Then Cap’in Eph will have his property, 
an’ you’ll stay here. Now I ain’t askin’ you to 
make up your minds right on the jump. Think 
it over, an’ talk it over with all hands, while I 
take my trick on deck, for in this ’ere craft it’s al- 
lowed the cap’in does the same work as the men.” 

Having said this, the master of the Ellen Maria 
approached the cook with a certain air of dignity; 
received from him a mug of coffee; drank it, and 
then slowly ascended the companionway. 

Immediately he disappeared a regular babel of 
confusion ensued. The crew of the Ellen Maria 
saw in Captain Ben’s proposition nothing whatso- 
ever of dishonesty; but a right good opportunity 
to turn the tables on Captain Dodge, who, as it 
appeared, was straining every nerve to outstrip 
them, and doing it, from a fisherman’s point of 
view, in an unfair manner, because, as one of the 


FOOLING CAPTAIN EPH 185 
men expressed it, “ it wasn’t no ways decent to 
dress down half the night, an’ run trawls the 
balance.” 

Therefore it was that they-were eager to aid the 
skipper in his little plan, and in order to do so 
used every argument which could be brought to 
bear upon the strangers, until from their florid 
description of life aboard the Ellen Maria, one 
who had never seen her, nor knew of the work 
that was to be performed, might have fancied 
she was a veritable palace set adrift for the sole 
purpose of ministering to the pleasures of fisher- 
men in need of a long vacation. 

Sam and Tommy were astonished at the won- 
derful consumption of coffee which accompanied 
this unusual effort to increase the number of the 
schooner’s crew by two. Abraham seemed to think 
that he was doing more than a man’s full share 
toward persuading the seamen from Shediac, for 
he replenished the mugs as often as they were 
emptied, and twice before a decision had been 
arrived at was one or the other of the huge coffee 
pots refilled. 

Once during the confusion Tommy proposed 
to his cousin that they go into the forcpeak in or- 
der to get some sleep before the next day’s work 
should be begun ; but Sam refused by saying laugh- 
ingly: 


1 86 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ I wouldn’t miss this part of it for consider- 
able. It’s the only sport we’ve had, and we can’t 
afford to cut it short. I want to know whether 
this crew can persuade the men to leave the Gen- 
eral Grant, and allow her master to think they are 
drowned, for that’s what he would believe if the 
dory was taken back with such a story as they evi- 
dently count on telling.” 

Therefore it was Tommy turned his attention 
once more to the noisy group, hearing but little 
of what was said, for there were many times when 
the men were talking simultaneously, and often 
when comparative quiet had been restored, there 
were no less than three who insisted on being 
heard at the same moment. 

However, it came to an end finally, as all 
things will, and the men from Shediac announced 
their willingness to do as Captain Ben desired; 
but they insisted that there should be no question 
as to the gratuity of five dollars which had been 
promised if the Ellen Maria arrived at Portland, 
with a full fare, in advance of the General Grant. 

Not until this decision had been arrived at did 
the master of the schooner show himself; but that 
he had been on deck attentive to duty all knew, 
because even above the noise of the boisterous con- 
versation could be heard the long, mournful blasts 
of the horn. 


FOOLING CAPTAIN EPH 187 

Moses Salter had not taken any prominent part 
in persuading these men from Shediac; but had 
rather directed it by urging this member of the 
crew or that to paint some alluring picture, or 
make an additional suggestion of the comfort to 
be enjoyed aboard the Ellen Maria, when the con- 
versation seemed to lag. 

However, immediately the decision had been 
made, the old sailor posted on deck as fast as his 
two legs could carry him, and an instant later Cap- 
tain Ben came down alone, the vigorous tooting 
of the horn telling that Moses had taken up the 
task with a pair of fresh lungs that were capable 
of coaxing from the instrument of tin its full 
volume of sound. 

“ Wa’al,” the captain said as he came below, 
and halted at the foot of the companionway, “ Pm 
told you’ve made up your minds to jine us? ” 

“ That’s what we’ve done, with the under- 
standin’ that you’ll get the dory back to the Gen- 
eral with whatsoever yarn you see fit, an’ that 
we’re to have five dollars apiece if so be we make 
port with a full fare before Cap’in Dodge does. 
Besides, we’re to have the same lay as we had 
there.” 

“ Right as a trivet, my man, an’ we’ll consider 
the bargain closed. You make a bit by the change, 
seein’s how we’ve got more fish aboard than 


1 88 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Cap’in Eph has, with all his night work, an’ now 
I’m allowin’ that it’s time to turn in, for if the 
crew of this ’ere schooner count on makin’ an 
extry five-dollar bill apiece, there can’t be much 
sogerin done after the first crack of day. I’m not 
askin’ you to go out in the night; but I do claim 
that so long as a man can see he ought’er work, 
except what time he has to spend in fillin’ up.” 

“ It’s all over,” Master Babbidge whispered 
triumphantly to his “ guests.” “ I told you father 
had some plan to work on Cap’in Eph, an’ he’s 
done it. Now we had better turn in, for it will be 
a case of humpin’ ourselves livelier than any crew 
ever did on this schooner before, an’ we won’t 
have any too much time for sleepin’ even if we 
catch every nap that comes our way.” 

Then Master Babbidge made his way out of the 
cabin, the stowaways following in the belief that 
his advice was good, and on deck they saw Moses 
Salter pacing to and fro, looking in the gray vapor 
not unlike a ghost, if it so be there are such things. 

“ Wa’al, lads, you’re like to see the bright side 
of a fisherman’s life this cruise. It’s astonishin’ 
how lucky some boys are! Now you might have 
come to the banks forty times, an’ it wouldn’t 
have been anythin’ more’n everyday work — pullin’ 
in an’ dressin’-down ; but this ’ere takin’ on new 
men makes a change come over the whole thing.” 


FOOLING CAPTAIN EPH 189 

“ In what way? ” Sam asked with a laugh. “ It 
strikes, me we’ll be pulling in and dressing-down 
with mighty little change, even though we have 
got an addition to the crew.” 

“ Ay, lad, p’rhaps that’s what it amounts to in 
the end; but you’re goin’ to have the chance of 
your lives to jump to it. Up to this time we’ve 
been kind’er sogerin’ along, takin’ our ease, so 
to speak; but beginnin’ to-morrow mornin’ you’ll 
see things fly.” 

“ If they can fly any faster than they have been 
doing since we began to fish, I shall be out of the 
race,” Tommy said with a hearty laugh, and then 
the stowaways, bidding Mr. Salter good-night, 
joined Master Babbidge in the blackness of the 
forepeak, where the odors were so strong that it 
seemed as if it would be necessary to put double 
bars across the hatch in order to keep them down. 


CHAPTER XVIII 
Signs of Trouble 

It was not necessary the stowaways should 
spend very much time in settling down to sleep 
once they were stretched on the lumpy bed in 
that abode of foul odors — the forepeak. 

The severe labors of the day, together with the 
lateness of the hour, had brought slumber so near 
their eyelids that it was almost as if they lost con- 
sciousness while going from the cabin to their 
quarters, and within a very few seconds after ly- 
ing down they crossed over into Dreamland. 

Master Babbidge was so excited over the rare 
scheme of his father’s for getting the best of 
Captain Dodge, and because of anticipating the 
coming race in the taking of fish, that it was as 
if to him sleep would never again be necessary. 
When he and his “ guests ” were alone he began 
to explain in what way the work aboard the Ellen 
Maria would be different now that they were en- 
gaged in a contest of fishing with an old rival, and 
talked at considerable length before coming to 
understand that the boys from Philadelphia were 
wrapped in slumber. Then he exclaimed in a 
tone of mingled disappointment and anger: 

190 


SIGNS OF TROUBLE 19 1 

“ I did think I’d found a couple of fellers what 
would make things pleasant on this ’ere cruise; 
but they might as well be wooden boys, so far as 
my gettin’ any fun out of ’em is concerned. When 
I pick up anybody agin to give ’em the time of 
their lives, I’ll be mighty sure they’ve got some 
get up an’ get to ’em ! ” 

With this supposed scathing remark, which fell 
far short of its purpose because of not having 
been heard by those for whom it was intended, 
Master Babbidge pulled from beneath the sleep- 
ing lads such of the dunnage as might serve to 
make a softer bed than he had had on the night 
previous, and* then gave himself up to the luxury 
of sleeping, which was by no means as satisfactory 
as if he could have discussed at length that which 
was to be begun on the following morning. 

He would have had keen eyes, indeed, who 
could have seen any signs of the coming day when 
the occupants of the forepeak were aroused by 
Jimmy Brown, who, first throwing upon them a 
coil of wet rope in order to attract their attention, 
shouted vigorously : 

“Ahoy there, you lubbers! Have you forgot- 
ten so soon as this that it’s a case of workin’ close 
up on Cap’in Eph’s back, or givin’ him the chance 
of sayin’ that we’re a set of duffers at fishin’? 
Turn out! Turn out, I say, an’ bear a hand! ” 


192 TWO STOWAWAYS 

Tommy came first through the hatch, rubbing 
his eyes and looking about in surprise as he said 
mildly : 

“ Why, we’ve just gone to bed, and it is yet 
night ! ” 

“Oh, it is, eh?” Jimmy Brown cried in an 
ironical tone. “ Wa’al, you’ll find out before 
many minutes go by that it’s near enough bein’ 
day for us to begin work. The first half is mighty 
nigh through with their breakfast, an’ Abe’ll be 
shoutin’ for you before you can get ready to go 
below. You stowaways want’er remember that 
from this out, until we make port again, it’s a case 
of takin’ your grub when you can get it, for the 
cook’ll have somethin’ better to do than keepin’ 
the table waitin’ for them as are slow.” 

Before he ceased speaking Tommy had drawn 
a bucket of sea water and was splashing it over 
his head and face in order the more quickly to 
drive slumber from his eyelids, and Sam stood 
awaiting his turn at the same primitive toilet ar- 
rangements, but Master Babbldge yet remained 
below enjoying the alleged luxury of his bed. 

“ The orders are for all hands to turn out 
lively! ” Jimmy Brown cried as he pounded once 
more on the hatch, and then, since Joe gave no 
evidence of life, he seized the bucket of water 
which the stowaways were using, throwing the 


SIGNS OF TROUBLE 193 

contents directly upon the son of the owner of the 
Ellen Maria, 

There was a noise as of some one choking; a 
sound as if two or three pop-guns had suddenly 
been discharged, and then came the cry in an 
angry tone : 

“ Mind your eye up there! You ain’t goin’ to 
play any funny tricks with me, or there’ll be 
trouble I ” 

It’s the cap’in’s orders for all hands to show 
up on deck, an’ we haven’t got the time to spend 
in writin’ out invitations.” 

“ I’ll soon know whether Jimmy Brown, or any 
other man aboard this ’ere schooner, has got the 
right to douse me with cold water before there’s 
the least little crack of daybreak! ” Master Bab- 
bidge cried in a voice trembling with passion, as 
he made his way aft evidently with the intention 
of complaining to his father, but before the stow- 
aways had finished their apology for a toilet the 
young gentleman came forward again, looking as 
if he had met with a very disagreeable rebuff, and 
he did not venture to explain what had occurred 
or been said while he was aft. 

There was no longer any reason for Master 
Babbidge to complain that he had been unfairly 
dealt with in the way of being aroused too early, 
for even though there were yet no signs of the 


194 TWO STOWAWAYS 

coming day, all was activity on board the Ellen 

Maria. 

Those of the “ first half ” who had finished 
breakfast were coming up from the cabin ; already 
two dory crews were making preparations for set- 
ting out; bait for the trawls was being brought up 
from the hold, and while every man, except those 
at the table, was doing his best to advance mat- 
ters that the crew of the General Grant might be 
beaten in the contest. Captain Babbidge went 
hither and thither, first into the hold and then 
boarding the dories, to make certain everything 
was as it should be, performing meanwhile the 
work of at least two men. 

The “ first half ” had left the schooner to run 
the trawls before the “ second half ” was called 
below, and if the stowaways had thought that 
previous to this they had witnessed an exhibition 
of hurried eating, they soon learned that what- 
ever the crew of the schooner had done heretofore 
in the way of bolting their food, was as nothing 
compared with that which was accomplished on 
this morning. It was as if a man had no more 
than seated himself and poured a mug of steam- 
ing coffee down his throat, than he was up again, 
his hands and mouth full of food, finishing the 
meal even as he tumbled over the rail to take his 
place in the boat. 


SIGNS OF TROUBLE 195 

“ It’s a case of you lads turnin’ to with me here 
below this forenoon,” Mr. Gunn said, as he placed 
before each of the boys a large amount of food, 
and then seated himself, beginning the meal in 
very much the same hurried manner as had the 
others. “ I’m allowin’ to set a trawl myself this 
mornin’, if so be I can find a mate, an’ what’s 
cooked ’twixt now an’ nine o’clock will have to 
last this ’ere crew till nightful, ’cause ’cordin’ to 
the cap’in’s orders, there’s to be no shilly shallyin’ 
’round with dinner from this out till our hatches 
are put on for the last time before makin’ port.” 

“ I don’t know much about cooking,” Sam said, 
doubtfully, “ but if there’s anything else I can do 
to help, all that’s needed is to tell me.” 

“ I didn’t allow any of you would bear a hand 
with the cookin’ part of it; but there’s dishes to 
be washed, potatoes to peel, the cabin to clear up, 
an’ forty other things that take time, sich as you 
lads can do as well as anybody else.” 

“ We’re ready,” Tommy said cheerily, while 
Master Bahbidge gave unmistakable evidence of 
dissatisfaction; but before he could make any de- 
cided protest Captain Ben’s voice was heard from 
the deck, as he shouted : 

“ Bear a hand lively, Joe, at that ’ere eatin’ ! 
You an’ your mates ain’t expected to stay below all 
day, an’ I’m wantin’ you to carry this ’ere dory 


196 TWO STOWAWAYS 

over to the General Grant before I leave. Get 

grub enough there to blanket your stomachs, an’ 

put the rest in your pockets so’s to eat as you go, 

for this ain’t any time to be at all finicky at the 

table.” 

“ Get along an’ do as the skipper says,” Mr. 
Gunn cried, literally forcing the boys toward the 
companionway. “ There’ll be plenty of time to 
fill yourselves up after you get back.” 

It was as if they had but just begun the meal 
before the three stood by the rail listening to 
Captain Ben’s commands: 

“ You’re to tow this ’ere dory to the General 
Grant, an’ say she washed up alongside of us last 
night. Findin’ Cap’in Eph’s name on the oars, 
I’ve allowed she belonged to him. Don’t wait any 
longer than’s necessary to tell the yarn, for fear 
you’ll let out somethin’ ’bout the men from 
Shediac what’s joined us. Now get away, an’ 
keep a quiet tongue between yer teeth.” 

It was to the lads from Philadelphia as if the 
trip to the General Grant was begun without their 
knowledge, so rapidly were they forced by Mr. 
Gunn, Captain Ben and Master Babbidge to 
move; but the hurried departure did not prevent 
them from insisting on doing a full share of the 
labor. 

Brief as had been the experience of the lads in 


SIGNS OF TROUBLE 197 

the work of fishing, it was sufficient to give them 
a far different idea as to the possibilities of danger 
in handling a small craft on the long swell of the 
ocean, than they previously had. The fog had 
disappeared; the gray light of the coming day 
was stealing over the waters from the eastward; 
there was a sense of invigoration in the still, salt 
air which seemed to give them strength, and while 
Sam held the steering-oar, clumsily to be sure, 
Tommy very nearly did his full share of the 
rowing. 

Master Babbidge had very much to say about 
what the crew of the Ellen Maria would do dur- 
ing the coming contest; but Sam and Tommy gave 
little heed to his words, so strange and yet so 
beautiful was everything around them. Sunrise 
on the ocean, with the two schooners rising and 
falling on the swell, and the dories dancing here 
or there, made up such a marine picture as would 
have delighted any save him who was suffering 
from an attack of seasickness. 

When the Ellen Marians dory came alongside 
the General Grant no person was to be seen on 
the deck, and Master Babbidge said as if the 
fact displeased him: 

“ They’re workin’ mighty hard to beat us, I 
can tell you — all hands out at this time in the 
mornin’; but they’ll find that we can give ’em a 


198 TWO STOWAWAYS 

mighty smart tussle ! ” Then, raising his voice, 

he cried: “Ahoy! Ahoy on the schooner! ” 

In reply to this hail a head appeared from the 
companionway of the forward house, for the cook 
on the General Grant was quartered well up in the 
bow, instead of aft as on the Ellen Maria, and 
the owner of the head asked gruffly, as if angry 
at having been disturbed : 

“ What’s crawlin’ on you now? ” 

“ Here’s a dory with Cap’in Eph’s name on the 
oars what washed alongside of us last night,” Joe 
said, speaking sharply, for he believed that the 
son of Captain Ben Babbidge should have been 
treated with more respect by the cook of a fishing 
vessel. 

“Our dory, eh?” the man muttered, as if he 
had fresh cause for discontent. “ I allowed them 
hands from Shediac was farmers,, even .though 
they did claim to be sich crack fishermen! So 
they’ve gone an’ drowned themselves, have they? 
Wa’al, pass up the painter.” 

Sam and Tommy felt relieved because the cook 
of the General Grant was not inclined to ask ques- 
tions. They had feared that it would be difficult 
to carry out Captain Ben’s commands without tell- 
ing a deliberate falsehood, and yet the matter had 
arranged itself very comfortably. The painter 
of the dory which they had been towing was 
passed aboard the schooner, and without having 


SIGNS OF TROUBLE 199 

been delayed more than a single minute, the boys 
were on their way back to the Ellen Maria. 

When they came alongside the schooner, which 
presented much the same appearance as had Cap- 
tain Eph’s vessel, not a person was to be seen on 
her decks, nor even after the boat was made fast 
alongside, and Master Babbidge said in an ex- 
planatory tone, with no slight evidence of 
satisfaction : 

“ I’m reckonin’ our folks can show them as 
sail the General Grant how to get to work in the 
mornin’.” 

“ Have all hands gone away, do you suppose? ” 
Sam asked curiously. 

“ Of course Abe is below. It’s allers allowed 
that the cook of a fisherman looks after the vessel 
while the men are out trawlin’, but if so be father’s 
willin’ for me to bear a hand in one of the boats 
with Abe, I reckon you’ll have to keep ship, for 
it don’t stand to reason he can set a trawl alone, 
an’ I’m the only one as can go with him.” 

“ But we don’t know how to take care of the 
schooner ” 

Sam did not finish the sentence, for at that in- 
stant a sharp cry of pain was heard from the cabin, 
and immediately afterward a cloud of smoke and 
of vapor came up from the companionway, giving 
every indication that the Ellen Maria was in 
flames ! 


CHAPTER XIX 
Abraham Disabled 

While one might have counted thirty the boys 
remained motionless in terror, unable even to 
speak, and during this time the clouds of smoke 
or of vapor continued to ascend from the cabin 
as if the interior of the schooner was in flames. 

“ Sing out for father! ” Master Babbidge finally 
cried, he being the first to use his tongue. “ Yell 
the loudest you know how, else the Ellen Maria is 
a goner I ” 

He suited the action to the words, sitting idly 
in the dory as he yelled at the full strength of his 
lungs the single word “ father,” repeating it again 
and again until the volume of sound became little 
more than an unmeaning howl of terror. 

Then Sam had so far mastered the surprise 
and fear which beset him when the first token of 
danger was seen and heard, as to have a very 
clear idea of what should be done. Even though 
he had had no experience as a sailor, he possessed 
sufficient common sense to understand that there is 
little difference between a fire at sea and one on 
land, except in the method of fighting, and it 
surely seemed as if an ounce of work performed 
200 


ABRAHAM DISABLED 201 
immediately was worth a ton of such noise as Joe 
was making, if through it assistance would not be 
procured instantly. 

“ Pull in alongside ! ” Sam cried sharply to 
Tommy, as he wrested the oar from Master Bab- 
bidge’s hands. “ We’ve got to get on board right 
away, for there must be something we can do ! ” 
Tommy obeyed the command intelligently, his 
cousin’s voice seeming to aid him in collecting his 
partially scattered senses, and while struggling 
to do his share toward bringing the dory along- 
side the schooner, he cried impatiently, as if Sam 
was in some degree at fault because of the noise: 

“Why don’t you shut off that screeching? 
There ain’t a boat within sound of his voice, and 
no good can come of so much yelling ! ” 

“ He seems to have lost his head, and we 
mustn’t waste time trying to beat sense into him,” 
Sam said curtly, and at that instant the dory, un- 
der their united efforts, was swung in so far that 
it was possible for him to lay hold of a boat’s 
fender which was hanging over the schooner’s rail. 

“ Make the dory fast, and come on as quick 
as you know how I ” Sam cried as, after waiting 
until his cousin had clambered forward past the 
noisy Joseph, he leaped aboard the vessel. 

The clouds of smoke or of vapor had already 
begun to thin out when he darted down the com- 


202 TWO STOWAWAYS 

panionway regardless of the possible danger which 
awaited him, and once in the cabin, although 
nearly blinded by steam and smoke, he could see 
Abraham Gunn on his hands and knees in front of 
the cook-stove. 

“ What has happened? What is the matter? ” 
Sam cried, speaking angrily because of his nerv- 
ousness, and the cook replied hoarsely: 

“ By makin’ a fool of myself I overturned the 
coffee pot into a fryin’ pan of hot lard, an’ there’s 
a chance this ’ere schooner will be on fire if you 
don’t bear a hand! No, no, never touch the 
water!” the cook added when Sam seized a 
bucket and turned as if to ascend the companion- 
way. “ Pull the blankets out of the bunks an’ do 
your best at smotherin’ the flames with them.” 

Then it was that the lad understood, rather than 
saw, that the cook was half lying upon a lot of bed 
clothing which he had thrown on the cabin floor, 
and, seeing the flames curling up from the port 
locker, Sam began to carry out Abraham’s in- 
structions, Tommy coming on the scene just in 
time to lend him valuable assistance. 

It is not necessary to make any attempt at go- 
ing into the details of this battle with the burning 
fat, for it simply consisted of determined efforts 
on the part of the cook and the stowaways to 
smother the flames, which, like some living thing. 



"THIS 'ERE SCHOONER WILL BE ON FIRE IF YOU DON'T BEAR A HAND! 



ABRAHAM DISABLED 203 

seemed vindictively to seize upon this or that un- 
guarded spot. 

How long this fight continued, with the human 
combatants half blinded and nearly choked by the 
smoke and steam, neither the man nor the boys 
could have told; but certain it is that when Abra- 
ham Gunn announced the end of the conflict in a 
tone of deepest relief as he staggered toward the 
companionway to fill his aching lungs with fresh 
air, Master Babbidge was still shrieking for his 
father, and, judging from the continued strength 
of his voice, he could not have been engaged in 
these strenuous efforts more than ten or fifteen 
minutes. 

Sam and Tommy staggered after the cook, and 
when they gained the deck it was a full minute 
before either had sufficiently recovered from the 
effects of the battle to be able to realize clearly the 
condition of affairs. Then it was that Sam saw at 
what expense Abraham had saved the schooner 
from destruction. One sleeve and nearly half of 
his shirt had been literally burned from his body, 
and the exposed skin showed a hue of angry red 
which told of the injuries received. 

“Are you hurt much, Mr. Gunn? ” Sam asked, 
speaking with difficulty because his lungs were not 
yet free from the choking vapor, and the cook 
replied in a tone of agony: 


204 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ I reckon I’m burned pretty bad, lad. First 
off I got a full half of the boilin’ coffee on my hand 
an’ arm, an’ then came hot fat enough to do up 
the job in good shape. If you could contrive to 
get some thin slices of fat pork to put on the 
worst places, I reckon it would ease up the pain 
a bit.” 

Sam ran below again, not knowing where to 
find that which was desired, but eager to accom- 
plish his purpose in the shortest possible space of 
time, and Tommy, who had been leaning over the 
rail gasping for breath, now turned to aid the suf- 
ferer in so far as he might. 

By this time Master Babbidge had come to un- 
derstand that his share in saving the schooner 
from destruction was of no account, noise being 
of but little service where work of the hands was 
required, but he came over the rail as if believing 
he had already played a manly part. 

‘‘Why don’t you get up an’ do something?” 
he asked irritably of the cook, who, with Tommy’s 
assistance, was striving to cover with Sam’s coat 
that portion of his body which had been burned, 
knowing full well that the sooner it was screened 
from the air the better. “ Seems to me there’s 
no need of makin’ so much fuss if everythin’ is all 
right, an’ if it ain’t. I’ll ’tend to it.” 

“ Go back inter the boat an’ screech some more, 


ABRAHAM DISABLED 205 

for that’s all you seem able to do ! ” Abraham 
cried angrily, and by this time Sam had come 
up with a huge piece of salt pork and a knife. 

Under the cook’s instructions the two stowaways 
bandaged the burned and scalded flesh to the best 
of their ability, Master Babbidge standing near by 
helpless, but giving many wild commands to which 
no one paid any heed. That Mr. Gunn had been 
injured seriously could be told by the quivering of 
his lips as he strove to repress any moan of pain, 
and Sam said solicitously: 

“ Don’t you believe you would feel better if 
you got into one of the bunks? ” 

“ There will be no ‘ better ’ to it, lad, for quite 
a spell. It’s a case of grinnin’ an’ bearin’, ac- 
cordin’ to my way of thinkin’, until the fire has 
worked its way out. The biggest part of the hurt 
is that this should have happened just now.” 

“ I can’t see why it wouldn’t be just as bad at 
any other time,” Tommy said, with a nervous 
laugh, and Mr. Gunn replied bitterly: 

“ Don’t you understand that I’m like to be laid 
up for two or three days? Inside of an hour my 
hand an’ arm will be one mass of blisters, an’ 
how am I goin’ to do any cookin’? ” 

“ There must be some one else aboard who can 
attend to your work,” Sam suggested, soothingly, 
and the cook cried as if the words angered him : 


206 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ Fm not sayin’ as they can’t make shift some- 
how without me, but we’re tryin’ to keep ahead of 
Cap’in Eph, and how’s that to be done if one of 
the crew’s told off to do my work? I ain’t such 
a baby but what I can stand a bit of pain. It’s 
the idee of gettin’ beat in what’s the same as a race 
’twixt the Ellen Maria an’ the General Grant, that 
hurts me most.” 

“ I’ll go right off an’ find father,” Master Bab- 
bidge cried, as if he had hit upon a plan to avert 
the threatened disaster, and he would have gone 
over the rail on the instant, but that Abraham 
shouted savagely: 

“ Stay where you are, you.idjut! Do you think 
it’s goin’ to better matters any if you pull the men 
off from their work? Let you go out there an’ 
tell Cap’in Babbidge what has happened, an’ he’d 
think the schooner was the same as disabled.” 

“ Sam an’ I can’t do much in the way of fish- 
ing,” Tommy began thoughtfully, “ and I don’t 
suppose we would make any better fist at trying 
to cook; but what’s the reason we couldn’t do a 
good deal of the work if you stayed close by to 
tell us exactly what ought to be done? I’m sure 
I could fry fish and wash dishes, and in the even- 
ing, after the catch has been dressed down, per- 
haps some of the men can do the other things.” 

“ Say, there seems to be considerable sound 


ABRAHAM DISABLED 207 
sense in you lads, even though you were such fools 
as to stow away aboard a fisherman,” Abraham 
said approvingly. “ This ’ere ache won’t come 
any harder if I keep my mind at work, an’ unless 
we’re willin’ Cap’in Eph shall beat us out an’ out, 
it’s a case of hustle.” 

Having said this Mr. Gunn went below, the 
stowaways following, and Master Babbidge over- 
hung the companionway that he might see what 
was going on in the cabin; but making no offer of 
assistance, probably because of yet being so con- 
fused as not to realize that a third pair of hands 
might make the work lighter. 

The first thing was to set the scene of the ac- 
cident to rights, and while the stowaways did this 
the cook walked to and fro in the narrow space, 
striving unsuccessfully at times not to give way 
to the pain which must well-nigh have overpow- 
ered him. 

It so chanced that Captain Ben and his dory- 
mate were the first to come in with a load of fish, 
and before they were alongside Joe, who yet re- 
mained idle on deck, shouted out his version of 
the accident, making it appear much as if the cook 
was at the point of death, with the Ellen Maria so 
nearly destroyed by the flames as to be little better 
than a wreck upon the waters. 

It can well be fancied that the master of the 


2o8 two stowaways 

schooner lost no time in going below, and when 
he gained the cabin a look of relief overspread his 
face. 

There were no visible signs of injury to the 
schooner; Abraham Gunn, his arm bandaged un- 
til it looked to be nearly as large around as the 
main-mast, was still pacing to and fro, struggling 
to hold the mastery over his agony, while Sam and 
Tommy, acting under his instructions, had the sec- 
ond meal of the day nearly ready for the eating. 

“ Why, I thought you was all burned to a cinder 
down here? ” Captain Ben said in surprise. “ How 
is it, Abe? Done up pretty bad? ” 

“ If that fool Joe would work with his hands 
as hard as he’s been workin’ with his tongue since 
this ’ere thing happened, dinner might be ready 
by this time,” Mr. Gunn said angrily. “ As it is, 
by keepin’ these ’ere bloomin’ stowaways down 
here I reckon we’ll pull through without any great 
trouble, except that you’ll have to go short on 
bread.” 

Then he explained to the master of the schooner 
how the accident had occurred, and concluded by 
praising Sam and Tommy for their willingness to 
assist, and their deftness at performing unfamiliar 
tasks, until the lads’ faces reddened with pleasur- 
able pride. 

“It’s bad enough; but I’m glad it ain’t any 


ABRAHAM DISABLED 


209 

worse,” Captain Ben said when the story was con- 
cluded, and Abraham added fiercely: 

“ How could it be worse, unless the Ellen Maria 
was burned outright? Here’s Cap’in Eph strainin’ 
himself to beat us into port, an’ I’m laid by when 
I might be out doin’ a man’s work in the dories.” 

“ Now, now, Abe, don’t take it to heart that 
way ! What if the General Grant does happen to 
get into port a few hours ahead? It’ll be the 
first time Ephraim Dodge ever got the best of us, 
an’ I’m allowin’ it will be the last, for it ain’t in 
him to hold such a gait as he’s struck this cruise. 
The next trip you won’t take to mixin’ boilin’ cof- 
fee an’ hot fat, an’ I’ll go bail we’ll have another 
try at the General Grant before we’re many years 
older. Besides, even with you laid up an’ one of 
the men called off to help in the cookin’, we ain’t 
what you might call short-handed, seein’s we’ve 
got the two Shediac fishermen aboard. If these 
’ere stowaways of ours can keep on as they give 
promise of doin’, an’ the fish don’t go back on us, 
I’m allowin’ our chances are mighty nigh as good 
as they were last night; any how, we’ll keep plug- 
gin’ at it, an’ the crew of the General Grant have 
got to stir their stumps if they beat us into port.” 


CHAPTER XX 
Amateur Cooks 

It sounded strange to the stowaways to hear the 
men as they came aboard, boat crew after boat 
crew, and were told what had happened, speak of 
the matter as if the only sad portion of the whole 
business was that they would be hampered just so 
much in the contest with the General Grant, 

It was as if they had no sympathy with the cook, 
whose suffering increased as the hours wore on, 
and yet such was by no means the case. At sea, 
when every man stands in momentary danger of 
his life, an accident which does not terminate fa- 
tally is quickly dismissed from mind while the 
future is being discussed, and the person who es- 
capes with his life is not accorded many words of 
consolation. 

In this case, the Ellen Marians chances of win- 
ning the contest were, through the mishap, les- 
sened to the extent of one dory crew, for, as has 
already been set down, it had been Abraham’s 
intention to do his share at running trawls, tak- 
ing Joe as dory-mate, and even though he was 
able to work only half the time, his would have 

been valuable assistance. Therefore, on first 
210 


AMATEUR COOKS 21 1 

learning of what had occurred, every member of 
the crew thought only of the weakening of the 
working force, giving but little heed to the suffer- 
ing cook. 

It was later, when the amateur cooks, meaning 
the stowaways, had got well into the routine of 
their work, that the crew of the Ellen Maria, dur- 
ing the few idle moments accorded them, found op- 
portunity of showing that they sympathized with 
Mr. Gunn in his affliction. 

As a matter of course, Sam and Tommy were 
exceedingly awkward when they first attempted to 
work under Abraham’s direction, but they were 
so very eager to aid in the labor, knowing of how 
much importance their share might be in this con- 
test with the General Grant, that, as Mr. Gunn 
himself said, they “ broke in mighty quick.” 

They put potatoes on to boil, made coffee while 
Abraham stood over them directing every move- 
ment, and fried the fish more creditably than could 
have been expected. In fact, when the first half 
were summoned to what might have been called 
“ dinner ” because it was the second meal of the 
day, Moses Salter said in a tone of approbation, 
after watching the stowaways a few seconds : 

“ I declare for it, them Philadelphy lads give 
promise of earnin’ a full share on this cruise! 
’Cordin’ to the looks of things, Abe’s plan of 


212 TWO STOWAWAYS 

pourin’ boilin’ coffee Inter hot fat won’t turn out 
so serious as I first reckoned. Our stowaways 
have their eyes out for dirt sharper’n Brother 
Gunn, an’ the cuddy looks cleaner than I’ve seen 
it since we left port.” 

“ They’re good lads,” the cook said heartily, as 
he stood In one corner of the cabin where would 
be the least danger any one might come in con- 
tact with his Injured arm. “ I make no doubt but 
that they’ll pull through on the gingerbread we’re 
goln’ to make this afternoon; but how we’ll get 
along for white bread beats me, ’cause it don’t 
stand to reason I can show ’em, tied up as I am.” 

“ I reckon we can stagger through a few days 
without bread, Abe, seeln’s how it can’t be helped,” 
Captain Ben cried cheerily. “ It’s big luck for us 
that the lads are aboard, for my Joe would be 
worse’n a wooden boy at sich work. Cook up 
what grub comes handy, an’ we’ll agree not to pull 
long faces while we stand a show of heatin’ 
Ephraim Dodge at his little game.” 

When the second half came below for their 
share of the dinner the amateur cooks received yet 
more praise, much to Master Babbldge’s dis- 
pleasure, as could be seen when the men resumed 
their tasks, leaving the lads to set the cabin to 
rights, for then he said stiffly, much as If he had 
been wronged in some way : 


AMATEUR COOKS 213 

“ It seems to me all hands have got somethin’ 
better to do than run on in sich a strain ’bout noth- 
in’. I don’t think it’s so very wonderful you fel- 
lers can get dinner when Abe sticks close at yer 
heels, tellin’ jest when you ought’er wink! I could 
do as much as that an’ never turn a hair.” 

“ Then why don’t you do it? ” Mr. Gunn cried 
as he turned sharply on Master Babbidge, for the 
great pain rendered him irritable. “ The day’s 
work ain’t finished by a long chalk, an’ I’m allow- 
in’ that these lads would be mighty glad for you to 
spell ’em. Take hold an’ wash the dishes, an’ 
when that’s been done I’ll hunt up another job so’s 
you’ll have a chance to show what’s in yer.” 

But Master Babbidge was by no means eager 
to assist the cook; it displeased him because his 
“ guests ” were praised so heartily, yet he did not 
feel inclined to win any share of the honors even 
though he was most anxious that the Ellen Maria 
should make port in advance of the General 
Grant, 

“ Somebody’s got to look after the schooner 
while all hands are out in the boats,” he muttered 
as he went up the companionway, “ an’ if I do that 
much I reckon I’ll be doin’ my share of the work, 
though you won’t find anybody cornin’ ’round actin’ 
as if he was most s’prised to death ’cause I manage 
to wiggle through it I ” 


2 1 4 TWO STOWAWAYS 

And Master Babbidge took exceedingly good 
care not to show himself below during the re- 
mainder of the day; but remained on deck as if 
believing the Ellen Maria needed most careful 
watching, although the weather was so fine, with 
not a suspicion of a breeze blowing, that the most 
clumsy craft ever launched could not have come 
to harm if she had been deserted entirely. 

And now because each day was to our stowaways 
so nearly like the one preceding it, there is no 
good reason why overly many words should be 
spent in telling how the Ellen Marians cargo was 
taken on board. 

Abraham Gunn’s injuries were more severe than 
was at first supposed, and during the ten days 
which followed the accident he not only suffered 
great pain, but was unable to perform even the 
most trifling tasks. The consequence was that 
Sam and Tommy did all the cook’s share of the 
work, save in the way of making bread, which fell 
to Moses Salter, who mixed and kneaded and 
mixed night after night when he had finished his 
portion of dressing-down. 

As a matter of course, the stowaways were not 
called upon to aid in caring for the fish as they 
were taken on board. From an hour before day- 
break, until the last tired man of the crew had 
mugged-up before turning into his bunk, the lads 


AMATEUR COOKS 215 

from Philadelphia had never an idle moment, and 
the fact that they could thus aid in the necessary 
labor had not a little to do with the success of 
the Ellen Marians crew in their contest with the 
men on the General Grant, 

More than once did Captain Ben order Joe 
into the cabin to assist his “ guests,” to the end 
that they might not be forced to work so hard ; but 
the boy was so awkward, or professed to be, that 
Abraham finally gave him strict commands to re- 
main on deck save at such times as he was entitled 
to be at the table. That he was forced to sleep 
in the forepeak caused Master Babbidge many a 
disagreeable moment, for he allowed himself to 
believe that he was ill used by being forced to 
occupy the narrow quarters with Jimmy Brown, 
while those whom he had invited on board re- 
mained aft. 

Because Sam and Tommy had taken it upon 
themselves to assist the cook, it seemed necessary 
they should remain, by night as well as by day, 
where Mr. Gunn could readily communicate with 
them, and, therefore. Captain Ben called for a 
man to voluntarily give up his bunk to the use of 
the boys. 

“ I’ll do it,” Jimmy Brown said promptly, on 
the evening after the accident, when it had been 
decided that the stowaways must live aft. “ I 


2i6 two stowaways 

can’t say that I’m hankerin’ after havin’ the ill- 
natured Joseph as a mate; but I’ll ship on that lay 
jest for the sake of keepin’ him straight, as I’ve 
been achin’ to do this many a day.” 

And, if Joe can be believed in the matter, 
Jimmy Brown did exactly as he had been wanting 
to do, for, according to Moses Salter’s testimony, 
the captain’s son had never been on deck so 
promptly when all hands were called, as during 
the time he shared the comforts, or the discom- 
forts, of the forepeak with Jimmy. 

“ Jest as soon as we get below, he acts as if he 
was the boss of everythin’,” Master Babbidge com- 
plained one morning to his “ guests ” when he ap- 
peared in the cabin before Sam had built a fire 
in the cook-stove. “ If I try to make any kick 
he ties me hand an’ foot, an’ threatens to put a gag 
in my mouth if I so much as speak.” 

“ An’ that’s what I’ll have to do some of these 
fine nights before this ’ere cruise comes to an end,” 
Jimmy Brown added, he having followed Joe aft 
without that young gentleman’s knowledge. 
“ You’ve got it inter your head, Joe, that you’re 
the whole thing aboard this schooner, whereas 
you’re a mighty small part of it since our stowa- 
ways got their sea-legs on, an’ if you kick over the 
traces a little bit, you’ll soon see that I am really 
the boss while we’re in the forepeak.” 


AMATEUR COOKS 217 

More than once did Master Babbidge declare 
emphatically that he would never allow another 
fellow to stow away on board his father’s vessel, 
and in making the terrible threat he took every pre- 
caution to insure its being heard by the lads from 
Philadelphia; but if he hoped to annoy them by 
such words he was most woefully mistaken. On 
one occasion his father, overhearing the words, 
said emphatically, and in a tone so loud that every 
man aboard could not fail of hearing him ; 

“ You can set it down in a book, Joseph, that 
you’ll never play the same game agin while I’m in 
command of the Ellen Maria, or any other vessel 
that you happen to be on board of, else you’ll get 
a taste of the rope’s end sich as you won’t forget. 
It was mighty lucky for all hands, though, that 
you did coax Sam an’ Tommy inter makin’ this 
cruise, else we’d stood a good show of bein’ beaten 
out’er our boots by Cap’in Eph, whereas it’s be- 
ginnin’ to look now, unless I’m dreadfully mis- 
taken as to the fish the General Grant was gettin’, 
that we’d make port a good twenty-four hours 
ahead of him.” 

Surely it did begin to appear as if Captain Ben 
was correct, for on the night when Moses Salter 
declared that another day’s work at the trawls 
would fill the hold of the Ellen Maria so full that 
“ the hatches wouldn’t fit,” the General Grant yet 


2i8 two stowaways 

showed enough of her hull above the surface to 
prove that she still lacked a good quarter of her 
proper fare. 

“ Under way to-morrow night by this time,” 
Abraham whispered to his assistants, as they 
crawled into Jimmy Brown’s bunk, so weary that 
it seemed to be a severe exertion to move their 
limbs, and this welcome intelligence, to which they 
had been looking forward so eagerly, revived the 
lads until it was as if they had been idling the 
whole day through. 

“ Oh, Sam! ” Tommy whispered. “ Only one 
day more, and then we’ll be sailing toward mother 1 
If this fine weather will only break now, so that 
we’ll have all the wind the Ellen Maria can stagger 
under, it won’t be many hours before we can say 
to those who will be glad to hear it, how sorry 
we are for having run away I ” 

“ It’ll be almost the next thing to Heaven ! ” 
Sam replied fervently, and then the slumber which 
had been hovering so very near his eyes, closed the 
lids until the cheery voice of Moses Salter caused 
them to open very suddenly as he shouted : 

“ Ahoy, you cooks 1 One day more to wrastle 
with the pots an’ pans all by your lonesomes, an’ 
then you’ll have the whole crew to bear a hand! 
Turn out, my hearties, an’ do your level best at 
showin’ us that you won’t be sorry when this ’ere 


AMATEUR COOKS 219 

cruise comes to an end, leavin’ you high an’ dry at 
Bar Harbor ! ” 

Far less than this would have aroused the lads 
to do their best. Mr. Salter had hardly ceased 
calling when they were at work making ready the 
breakfast, and doing everything so deftly that 
Abraham, turning over in his bunk for another 
nap, declared it was worse than useless for him to 
arise, because his assistants would get on better 
without him. 

It was a day filled with nervous excitement for 
the stowaways, although nothing out of the ordi- 
nary occurred on board the schooner, save when 
Joe came below shortly after the crew had gone 
out to run the trawls for the last time on that 
cruise, and said with something like a note of 
threat in his tones : 

“ I want you fellers to remember that if it hadn’t 
been for me you wouldn’t got the chance to make 
this trip in the Ellen Maria! 

And Sam replied with an inflection which 
puzzled Master Babbidge not a little: 

“Don’t you worry about our forgetting it! 
We’ll remember it the longest day we live! ” 

“ An’ I’m thinkin’ you’ll remember it, too, Joe,” 
Mr. Gunn added, “ for now that your father has 
seen what a couple of lads green to the business 
can do when they’ve got a willingness, he’ll take 


2 20 TWO STOWAWAYS 

good care that you step right lively. On account 
of havin’ so much business in the way of gettin’ 
the upper hand of Cap’in Eph, he’s kind’er al- 
lowed you to drift your own way; but once our 
hatches are on you’ll walk a chalk mark, or I’m 
mistaken.” 

On that noon, when the crew came into the 
cabin for dinner, it was known that the last trawl 
had been taken up; the last load of fish brought 
aboard, and it only remained to dress down the 
catch which remained on deck before the Ellen 
Maria would be ready for sea. 

“ But we won’t get under way till well inter the 
night, for I’m not minded to let Cap’in Eph know 
we’ve left till he finds us gone in the mornin’,” 
Captain Ben said, speaking now as the master of 
the schooner. “ This breeze gives token of fresh- 
enin’, an’ we shan’t be losin’ much time by holdin’ 
on till after dark. I reckon that I’ll be called on 
to pay the five dollars I promised each man.” 


CHAPTER XXI 
Winning the Race 

The sudden change in the crew when it was 
known that the cruise was much the same as at an 
end, puzzled the stowaways not a little, and while 
the lads and the disabled cook were at dinner on 
this, the last day at the Banks, Sam said in a tone 
of bewilderment : 

“ I can’t guess what’s gone wrong. Now 
that we have much the same as beaten Captain 
Dodge, it seems as if all hands were so nearly tired 
out that they couldn’t finish the job.” 

“ I don’t jest get hold of your meanin’, lad,” 
Mr. Gunn replied, craning his neck in order to 
look through the deckhouse windows that he might 
have the evidence of his own senses as to whether 
the crew of the Ellen Maria really had abandoned 
the contest, and he added with a laugh, after a 
long survey of the deck, “ Wa’al, now, my boy, 
don’t let a thing like that jar you. Because the 
men seem to be loafin’ at the work of dressin’- 
down, you get the idee that they’re tired out. 
They’re fresh enough to run trawls from now till 

midnight, an’ dance a jig afterwards, in case it 
221 


2 22 TWO STOWAWAYS 

was needed; but, if you remember, Cap’in Ben al- 
lowed he wouldn’t get under way till after dark, 
an’ our folks are sogerin so’s to pass the time an’ 
yet have it seem as if there was plenty to be done. 
S’posen a dory from the General came ’round this 
way, an’ our crew was loafin’? Then they’d 
know the Ellen^s hold was full, an’ away they’d go 
to give the news to Cap’in Eph, so’s he could get 
under way with half a fare, countin’ on makin’ us 
believe he was chock a-block.” 

This explanation was sufficient to check Sam’s 
fears, for it must be understood that he and his 
cousin were as eager the Ellen Maria should come 
out first in the contest as was the oldest shellback 
aboard, and, now that he had been given a hint, it 
was possible for him to detect the men in their pre- 
tense at working hard while in reality they idled 
about, bent only on prolonging the task until after 
sunset. 

Then what a change there was when the night 
had come, and it was no longer possible that those 
on board the General Grant could make out, even 
with a strong glass, what was being done aboard 
the Ellen Maria! All hands set to with a will 
making ready for getting under way, and no one 
thought of supper until the schooner should be 
homeward bound. 

Abraham Gunn and both the boys were on deck 


WINNING THE RACE 223 
when the main hatch was battened down, and as 
the stowaways heard Captain Ben give the word 
which headed the Ellen Maria for a home port, it 
can well be fancied how fervent a hymn of thanks- 
giving came from their hearts. The cruise had not 
been one of hardship, save as they had been de- 
prived of the comforts of home, and they might 
have stowed away on a hundred different vessels 
without finding a captain and crew who would have 
treated them as kindly as they had been treated 
by Captain Ben and his men; but the memory of 
that mean thing which they had done caused bit- 
ter suffering of mind. 

It is very likely the lads understood somewhat 
of that which had been done for them by the crew 
of the Ellen Maria, and that they realized how 
great was the debt of gratitude owing from them ; 
yet all this was forgotten in the exceeding joy of 
knowing that, God willing, they would in a few 
hours be face to face with those whom, even while 
loving so dearly, they had wronged. 

Captain Ben’s prediction as to the weather was 
verified before sunset, for then the wind came 
over the sea with greater force, while the scudding 
clouds gave token that it would gather strength 
as the night grew older. When the Ellen Marians 
wings were spread to the favoring breeze she 
darted off with a bone in her teeth as if, like the 


224 TWO STOWAWAYS 

boys from Philadelphia, she was eager to atone 

for what had been done. 

It is not often that Captain Ben Babbidge will 
admit to having made a blunder, but he did 
so within five minutes after the Ellen Maria 
had started on her homeward way, by saying in 
a low tone to Moses Salter, who stood at the 
helm : 

“ I’ve been a bit too brash, Moses. We ought’er 
laid low till midnight.” 

“ Have they made us out? ” and the old sailor 
stooped to peer under the main boom at the Gen- 
eral Grant lying two miles or more away. 

“ They’ll be blind if they haven’t, an’ you can 
set it down as a solemn fact that Eph Dodge has 
had his eye skinned for us ever since the schooner 
gave token of havin’ a full fare aboard. I’ll boil 
my head if they don’t get under way inside of the 
next ten minutes, with all hands ready to swear 
she’s full to the hatches, when we know they 
haven’t taken in what she can carry by a good 
third.” 

Moses Salter could not afford to gaze at the 
rival schooner many seconds, because it was nec- 
essary he should hold his own craft true to her 
course, and Mr. Gunn had just suggested to the 
stowaways that now was come the time for the 
crew to give undivided attention to the long de- 


WINNING THE RACE 225 
layed meal, when the silence was suddenly broken 
by Jimmy Brown, who shouted in a tone of anger: 

“ Look at the sneaks ! They’re gettin’ under 
way, leavin’ all the trawls behind ’em, countin’ to 
make out she’s got a full fare ! ” 

Even in the gloom it was possible to see that 
sail was being made on the General Grant, and the 
triumph of the men was drowned in anger because 
their rival was playing unfairly in the contest. 

“ Keep cool, boys,” Captain Ben said in a low 
tone, as if afraid Captain Dodge might hear him. 
“ We’ve beaten ’em at fishin’, an’ we’ll soak the 
tar out of ’em at sailin’ ! I’ll agree never to smell 
the banks agin if we don’t lead ’em inter Portland 
by a good ten miles. Trim them head sails a bit, 
an’ I’ll show you what the Ellen Maria can do 
when she’s forced to it I ” 

Then Captain Ben took the wheel from Moses 
Salter, and Mr. Gunn said to his assistants: 

“ It’s all right now, lads, for we’ll hold every 
Inch she makes while Ben Babbidge is at the helm. 
We’d best get the grub ready, an’ keep busy 
cookin’, for with a race on hand it’ll be a case of 
all hands on deck from now till we make fast to 
the dock. That skipper of ours is a driver, when 
it comes to a pinch like this, an’ he’ll crack on 
everythin’, blow high or blow low ! ” 

Now it was that an air of suppressed excitement 


226 TWO STOWAWAYS 

was apparent throughout the schooner. Smarting 
under the knowledge that Captain Dodge was play- 
ing unfairly, every man aboard, even including the 
two from Shediac, would have been willing to give 
up his share of the catch rather than be beaten in 
the race, and it was not necessary the skipper 
should speak twice in order to have a command 
obeyed, for both “ halves ’’ remained on deck con- 
stantly, except during the brief time spent in eat- 
ing or mugging-up hurriedly. 

At midnight, when all save Captain Ben had 
satisfied their hunger, the stowaways crept on deck 
with difficulty to get an idea of what was being 
done in the way of winning the race, and that 
which they saw sent the hot blood tingling through 
every vein. 

The wind had increased in force until to the lads 
from Philadelphia it seemed as if a full gale was 
raging, and yet the Ellen Maria carried every inch 
of canvas that could be spread, staggering under 
the weight of sail as if bent on tearing out her own 
spars. The sea was running high, and there were 
times, as the gallant little schooner stormed along, 
when it seemed as if she leaped directly from one 
mountain of water to another — as if she cleared 
the surface at every bound. Then, again, when 
the press of canvas forced her bow down, she 
plunged into the yeasty waters, flinging the spray 


WINNING THE RACE 227 
from stem to stern, heeling over to it until the lee 
rail was awash, and he who went fore or aft was 
obliged to cling like a monkey to whatsoever gave 
him a hand-hold, otherwise he would have gone 
overboard. 

Captain Ben stood at the helm watching keenly 
every movement of the struggling vessel, easing up 
on her now, and again forcing her to take all the 
buffeting of the waves lest a single inch of the 
furious headway be wasted. 

“ Wa’al, what do you think of the Ellen Marta 
now? ’’ Moses Salter asked as he came to the head 
of the companionway where the lads crouched, his 
oilskins dripping water from every fold, and glis- 
tening in the rays of the cabin lamps like cloth of 
gold. 

“ It’s great 1 ” Sam exclaimed with a long in- 
drawing of the breath. “ It’s great; but where is 
the General Grant?” 

“Somewhere astern, I reckon; at least that’s 
where she was when we saw her last. I ain’t sayin’ 
that she can’t sail some, but Eph Dodge never had 
it in him to handle a craft at a time like this, as 
has Ben Babbidge. I’d put him agin any of the 
crack skippers that sail an ocean race, an’ are 
puffed up to the skies by the newspapers, an’ you’d 
see him work all ’round ’em. A master hand is 
Cap’in Ben, an’ ’less somethin’ carries away, we’ll 


228 TWO STOWAWAYS 

be tied up at Leavitt’s wharf before the General 

has made the Light Ship I ” 

The old sailor clawed his way forward in re- 
sponse to some suggestion from the captain, and 
the boys crept back to their bunk, wondering where 
Joe Babbidge might be during these exciting times. 

When the stowaways were aroused next morn- 
ing by Mr. Gunn, the Ellen Maria was still storm- 
ing along as when they had turned in, and, quite 
naturally, their first question was as to what had 
happened while they slept. 

“ We’re still holdin’ our own, an’ a leetle more,” 
Abraham replied in a tone of satisfaction. “ The 
General ain’t in this race for a small minute — can’t 
even be seen, an’ unless Cap’in Eph has gone daft, 
he must ’a steered the same course we did. Say, 
what do you think of Joe’s bein’ sicker’n a boss? 
Jimmy says he’s rollin’ all over the forepeak, or 
was the last time they had a chance to take off the 
hatch, swearin’ that he couldn’t live much longer.” 

“Joe sick?” Tommy repeated in astonishment. 
“ I thought he was a regular sailor! ” 

“ So he is, as much of a one as his lazy bones 
will allow; but that don’t save him from bein’ sick 
when his stomach is in jest the right trim. I’ve seen 
them as have lived on the banks all their lives, so 
to speak, give in now an’ then same as he has.” 

“ I’ll go forward and see what he needs,” Sam 


WINNING THE RACE 229 
said as he started toward the companionway, but 
Mr. Gunn stopped him by saying; 

“ You may as well save yourself the trouble of 
crawlin’ forward, lad, ’cause to take off the fore- 
peak hatch jest now would be the same as drownin’ 
him out. The Ellen Maria is duffin’ inter it con- 
siderably harder than when you turned in, an’ ev- 
erythin’ is awash fore an’ aft. We’ll find him all 
right, an’ p’rhaps, a bit the better for havin’ his 
stomach turned over a few times, when there’s a 
chance to get at him.” 

There was considerable work to be done on this 
morning, and however much the stowaways sym- 
pathized with Master Babbidge, it was necessary 
to leave him to his fate while they ministered to the 
wants of the crew, nor did they see him again un- 
til the race was ended and won. 

When the Ellen Maria arrived off Portland 
Head, with no sign of the General Grant astern. 
Master Babbidge came aft looking pale and 
dispirited, as he asked humbly for a mug of coffee. 

“ I’ve had an awful time,” he groaned as Sam 
supplied his wants. “ The forepeak hatch was un- 
der water ’bout all the time, an’ they couldn’t get 
at me; it seemed like I was goin’ to die! ” 

“ But the Ellen Maria has won the race, Joe! ” 
Tommy cried excitedly, and Master Babbidge re- 
plied petulantly ; 


230 TWO STOWAWAYS 

“ I don’t care if she has won a dozen of ’em ! 
Give me another mug of coffee, an’ try to have 
some sense about yer. You can bet I don’t get an- 
other crowd of fellers ’board this schooner what’ll 
loaf ’round aft without tryin’ to lend me a hand 
when I’m most dead I ” 

Then Master Babbidge crept into one of the 
vacant bunks, and the stowaways heard nothing 
more from him until the Ellen Maria was made 
fast to Leavitt’s Wharf, when Captain Ben, com- 
ing below for something to eat, said to the lads : 

“ You boys have turned out to be considerable 
help, an’ I’d be right glad to have you with us 
another cruise; but I reckon you’ve had all the 
fishin’ you want this season. I dunno what we’d 
done, when Abe got used up, an’ we buckin’ Cap’in 
Eph, if it hadn’t been for you. Now you can see 
that I ain’t achin’ to be rid of yer; but it’s a sure 
case that we’ll be here at the dock two or three 
days, an’ I’m allowin’ you can’t get to Bar Harbor 
any too quick. There’s a train leaves in a leetle 
more’n two hours, so Moses says, an’ if so be 
you’re minded there’s nothin’ to stop you from 
goin’ on it.” 

“ If we only could! ” the lads cried in the same 
breath, and then both suddenly fell silent, where- 
upon Captain Ben added: 

“ I’ll see to buyin’ the tickets on the train. 


WINNING THE RACE 231 

’cause you’ve earned that much, an’ a great deal 
more.” 

Five minutes later the stowaways were scrub- 
bing themselves furiously, making ready for the 
journey, and Master Babbidge, who had crawled 
feebly out of the bunk when Mr. Gunn told him 
the lads from Philadelphia were about to set off for 
Bar Harbor, said with no little of scorn in his 
tones : 

“ Some time, if you fellers think you can treat 
me halfway decent. I’ll get father to take you on 
another cruise, an’ then ” 

“ Never mind about that part of it, Joe,” Sam 
interrupted. “ We’ve had all the fishing we want.” 
But, two hours later, when the lads parted with 
Moses Salter at the railroad station. Master Ches- 
ley said, as if in addition to his remark to Joe: 

“ We’re counting on seeing you all again before 
we go back to Philadelphia, Mr. Salter, and then 
we’ll try to show how thankful we are for the 
kindness shown us aboard the Ellen Maria, Who 
knows but that we might make another cruise with 
you next year? ” 

“ If you come as decent lads should, with the 
knowledge an’ consent of your folks, we’ll be 
mighty glad to see yer, an’ then you shall have a 
chance to do some fishin’, instead of spendin’ your 
time below. Be good boys from this out, an’ re- 


232 TWO STOWAWAYS 

member that you’ve got to hustle lively if you count 
on payin’ any part of the debt you owe your 
folks.” 

Then the train pulled out of the station, and the 
next time our stowaways saw Mr. Salter — well, 
perhaps it is not best to speak of that time now ; but 
if those who have made the acquaintance of the 
stowaways aboard the Ellen Maria really want to 
hear how and when they next saw those with whom 
they had been shipmates during the contest with 
the General Grant^ they may have the story for 
the asking. 


THE END 



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